botch
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botch¹
- /bɒt͡ʃ/ UK
- /bɑt͡ʃ/ US
Rhymes with -ɒtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English bocchen (“to mend”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old English bōtettan (“to improve; cure; remedy; repair”), related to boot, or from Middle Dutch botsen, butsen, boetsen (“to repair; patch”), related to beat. Doublet of bodge.
verb botches · botching · botched
- To perform (a task) in an incompetent or unacceptable manner; to make a mess of something. A botched haircut seems to take forever to grow out.
- To do (something) without care or skill, or clumsily.
- To mend or repair (something) clumsily.
noun botches
- An action, job, or task that has been performed very badly; a ruined, defective, or clumsy piece of work. That I require a cleareneſſe; and with him; / To leaue no Rubs nor Botches in the Worke:
- A patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner.
- A mistake that is very stupid or embarrassing.
- A messy, disorderly or confusing combination; a conglomeration; hodgepodge.
- One who makes a mess of something. If it was the last word I ever spoke, Puddock, you're a good natured—he 's a gentleman, sir—and it was all my own fault; he warned me, he did, again' swallyin' a dhrop of it—remember what I'm saying, Doctor—'twas I that done it; I was always a botch, Puddock, an' a fool; and—and—gentlemen—good-by.
botch²
- /bɒt͡ʃ/ UK
- /bɑt͡ʃ/ US
Rhymes with -ɒtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English botche, from Anglo-Norman boche, from Late Latin bocia (“boss”).
noun botches
- A tumour or other malignant swelling. Botches and blaines muſt all his fleſh imboſs,
- A case or outbreak of boils or sores. The Lord wil smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scabbe, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not bee healed.
