scratch v.
1. (Aus./US) to leave or move at speed [one’s tracks are scratched in the ground, but note Aus. cattleman use scratch, to rowel a horse with one’s spurs].
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Streaks of Squatter Life 109: I’m cussed if I hadn’t to turn round, too, and scratch for the snag agin! | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 14/4: Clifford made a very lumbering start on his own account, when Hanlan responded by taking a half run upon his slide, dipping his sculls like lightning, and gaining fully a quarter of a length before the pair settled down to their work. ‘Wait till you see him “scratching,”’ remarked, on the way up, an alderman belonging to the ‘clever’ party, thereby inferring that Clifford had been on the fox during his training; and now that we saw him ‘scratch,’ we liked him less than ever. | |
| ‘The Riverman’ Blazed Trail Stories (2004) 5: This little town will scratch fer th’ tall timber along about midnight when the boys goes in to take her apart. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 3 June 9/5: [from McClure’s Mag.] He scratched and hit the farmer who caught him . | |
| ‘Barracking’ Benno and Some of the Push 139: ‘It’s never my old friend Benjamin [...] Tut, tut, tut, poor laddie, the moths have been at you.’ ‘Garn scratch!’ grumbled Benno. |
2. (US Und.) to forge banknotes or other documents.
| Vocabulum 77: scratch To write; to forge. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | 25 Years in Six Prisons 205: Shackell was also there to see if there was any ‘scratching’ (i.e. forging) to be done. | |
| Und. and Prison Sl. | |
| et al. DAUL 186/1: Scratch, v. 1. To duplicate a signature in forgery, especially by free-hand skill. | |
| Banker Tells All 39: I suppose it was getting mixed up in the gentle art of print faking that turned my hands to scratching. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 816: scratch – To forge. |
3. in senses of SE scratch, to remove a horse (or dog) from those running in a given race.
(a) to get rid of, to wipe out, e.g. a police record, a debt.
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor I 343/1: Of course I got ‘scratched’ from the trade Society. | |
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Hills & Plains 2 162: No one ever enjoys the prospect of being ‘scratched out’. | |
| Sporting Times 15 Mar. 3/5: Scratch the bet, and call it off. | |
| More Fables in Sl. (1960) 172: Oliver saw that he would have to Scratch the Musical Set. | |
| Shorty McCabe 98: Scratch me off, [...] I’m in the wrong class. | |
| Bexhill-on-Sea Obs. 31 Oct. 5/5: ‘I’m not on the Burgess list.’ ‘Do you mean to say I scratched you off?’. | |
| Right Ho, Jeeves 32: He had strained a fetlock and must scratch his nomination. | |
| Mating Season 36: She had scratched his nomination then, though subsequently relenting. | |
| Sundowners 325: Let’s scratch Our Place and we’ll pack up and get out of here. | |
| Serial 36: Scratch that little bit of folk wisdom. | |
| Further Tales of the City (1984) 119: Scratch the roller-skating, huh? | |
| Another Day in Paradise 233: For about ten seconds the thought of seeing Sydney cheered me up and then is scratched. | |
| Something Fishy (2006) 49: It was possibly him. But [...] it wasn’t. [...] The lead was scratched. | |
| Rough Trade [ebook] ‘Scratch that. I’m positive this isn’t the time or place’. |
(b) (also scratch off) to kill, to murder.
| Sporting Times 11 Jan. 5: When with the stiff ’uns I am laid, / In short, when I am scratched. | |
| ‘Finger Man’ in Pearls Are a Nuisance (1964) 109: Which one of you heels scratched the guy at West Cimarron last night? | |
| Hooligans (2003) 23: The woman was killed by a bomb. Whoever scratched the other two knew what he, or they, were doing. It looks like a couple of Petes to me. | |
| Homeboy 108: They’re scratching a hooker with so many tatoos she looks like the side of a city bus. | |
| ‘Crime 101’ in Broken 104: Ormon, he don’t care how many people he scratches off. |
(c) (US prison) to catch in the commission of a disciplinary offence.
| On the Yard (2002) 343: They scratched him [...] Quick! He didn’t have no time for no cleanup. |
4. in senses of SE scratch for (money).
(a) (US) to work.
| Hand-made Fables 167: He scratches just as hard as any Township Trustee in the Mississippi Valley. | |
| Go, Man, Go! 64: I’m supposed to be out scratching for starts. |
(b) (US) to struggle for a living.
| Passage (1944) 65: He and Bob had to scratch for a living the best way they could. [Ibid.] 160: ‘We’ll have to scratch for another year or two to pay off the new boat.’. | |
 | ‘Double Feature’ in N.Y. Age 27 Feb. 7/1: And the dealers down here has to scratch too. | |
| Riverslake 202: If his mob gets in next election they’ll whip up a nice old depression, just like they did the last time, and we’ll all be scratching for jobs again. The only difference is that there’ll be a million or so of these bludgers scratching with us. | |
| This is the Grass 202: Not that I read much. I’ve been too busy scratching for a crust. | |
| Layer Cake 126: Drivers getting beatings, informing the dole if guys were scratching and working. |
(c) (US black campus) to hand over.
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 22 Aug. 7/6: Scratch me a thin — (Lend me a dime). |
5. of a man, to seduce, to have sexual intercourse; note Williams (1994) for a 17C scratch one’s itch, to satisfy a sexual urge.
| Skyvers I ii: Did you scratch Helen? |
6. (US police) of a supervisory police officer, to sign a subordinate officer’s log to memorialize that the supervisor has found the officer properly on duty.
| Patrolman 31: ‘You guys on foot posts, I’ll be around later to scratch your books’. | |
| Good Cop Bad Cop 59: [They] pass their memo books through the window for the boss to scratch. | |
| 23rd Precinct 206: [T]hey roll through the dark streets, occasionally spotting the lights of a patrol car at another intersection. One pulls up alongside theirs. Sergeant Kennedy has to sign—"scratch"—their memo books. |
In compounds
(US) impoverished.
| Rope Burns 68: She was born and raised [...] in the hills outside the scratch-ass Ozark town of Theodosia. | |
| Tropic of Detroit III 81: There was a big gap between a scratch-ass reporter, freelance fact gatherer, and a writer, novelist. | |
| Maidenhead Society n.p.: The little Afghan burgh of Mahwan had been a scratch ass cluster of one or two roomed flat roofed houses . |
(US Und.) a forger.
| God’s Man 214: Why, that dame ’ud have loved the scratch-man all the more for having took a long chance. | |
| Keys to Crookdom 416: Scratcher. Forger. Also scratch man. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 165: Scratch Man.–A forger. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| Men of the Und. 156: The two scratch-men soon became fast friends. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 817: scratch man – A forger. |
In phrases
(orig. US) to search for something, esp. when hard to find.
| Underground Dict. (1972) 165: scratch [...] Search for drugs. | |
| Weekend Tel. 14 Oct. 🌐 Santo Tomas seemed the ideal place to begin scratching around for echoes of Avila’s past. |
(US) impoverished, out of funds [note also scratch n.3 (5)].
| (con. 1991-94) City of Margins 20: If Giuseppe’s scratched out, how’s he pay into the game? |
see under gravel n.
to rush off.
| Le Slang. |
(Aus.) to resign from a job; esp. as imper. scratch me off.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Dec. 22/1: Hopping out of the ‘gutter’ the coot snapped out at him, ‘Write it out’ [...] The coot’s mate [...] drawled, ‘Scratch me off, too.’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 6 July 24/1: Here’s how they fling him their resignations: ‘Write mine out’, ‘Scratch me off’ [etc.]. | |
| Scone Advocate (NSW) 29 Mar. 4/5: He sure got rid of the job orrite. He just got hisself tramped and on account uv ow he looked just like a sick hen, I tolled Selsie he cood scratch my check out as well. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 11 June 19/1 He may demand that the said boss give him his time. Scratch him off, or do various things. | |
| Under Hook 130: So the Federation bloke says, ‘Who’s me mate?’ I said, ‘Him.’ The Federation bloke said, ‘No, scratch me,’ and the other bloke said, ‘Scratch me too,’ so they both went. They just wouldn’t work with each other. |
1. to waste time, to daydream.
| ‘Meet Me By Moonlight’ in Rambler’s Flash Songster 10: Remember, be sure to come, / If you wish for an out-and-out treat; / For I shall be scratching my bum, / Until my sweet maiden I meet. | |
| There Ain’t No Justice 37: Don’t go to the caff to-night. You want to start early hours. Standing around caffs, scratching yourself all night won’t do you no good. |
2. (US black) to stop doing something.
| ‘Dandy’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 70: The referee pointed to Stevie: ‘When I say break, punk, you better scratch ass and git back like I tell you’. |
In exclamations
(Aus./US) go away!
| Hoosier Mosaics 138: What you doin’ here, you onery cusses, you! Leave here! Get out! Scratch! Sift! Dern yer onery skins, I’ll shoot every dog of ye! Git out’n here, I say-out, out! |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
a bad-tempered woman.
| Atlantic Mthly 95 211: Mrs. Jerolamon’s a scratch cat. She’ll lay for us pretty good. | |
| You Never Know Your Luck 295: And you wished often that your real self had written on Derby Day and not the scratch-cat you were then? | |
| Fanny Herself [ebook] You old scratch-cat! | |
| Mareea-Maria 165: Yeah, you little scratch-cat, I know you do. But you’d oughta be more careful. | |
| Man with Mask 182: There be Jennifer an’ that awd scratch-cat, Aunt Polla, to-fightin’. | |
| In the Money 305: ‘Scratch cat!’ said one little girl. ‘Scratch cat!’. | |
| Daughters of Mrs Peacock 50: ‘Very well, donkey,’ said Sarah. ‘Very well, scratch-cat,’ said Catherine. | |
| Barbarian 675: It will be extremely interesting for you, later on, taming our divine little scratch-cat. A husband[...] is usually able to humble a wife who starts with her nose in the air. | |
| (con. 1861-5) Tenn. Hist. Qly 24 128: She must have made some cutting remark, since Thruston called her a ‘Secesh scratch-cat’. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | (ref. to c.1910) Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 97/1: scratch cat sour-tempered female; c.1910. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
(US black) a cheap hotel or rooming house.
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. | |
| Really the Blues [dedication] To all the junkies and lushheads in two-bit scratch-pads, and the flophouse grads in morgue iceboxes. (R.I.P.). |
1. a cheap hotel or lodging house; anywhere suffering an infestation of insects.
| Scrap Book 9 785: ‘Pad- money’ is the price of a bed in a cheap ‘scratch-house’ or ‘dump’ or ‘dosshonse’ or ‘louse-house’ . | |
| Adventure 10 Aug. 131: Joe, with an old hobo’s deep-rooted aversion to sleeping in a ‘scratch-house,’ [etc.]. | |
| ‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 462: Scratch house, A tramp’s lodging house. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 165: Scratch house.–A cheap lodging-house or brothel. Not because the accommodation costs money, but because the vermin inevitably found in such places cause the lodgers to scratch. | |
| Welfare Advocate 10-12 21/2: He [...] retreats to his miserable ‘scratch house’ where it costs him a quarter to sleep, 10 cents for breakfast, 20 for dinner and 45 for a pint of jerrocky. | |
| McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001) 23: The Venice [cinema] is not a ‘scratch house.’ In fact [...] its seats get a scrubbing at least once a week. | |
| et al. DAUL 186/1: Scratch-house bum. 1. A seedy vagrant who sleeps in the cheapest quarters obtainable. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 817: scratch house – A cheap lodging house or brothel. | |
| I Was a Drug Addict 193: The quarters I got in a motheaten hotel [...] were not quite bad enough to earn the place the title of ‘scratch house’. | |
| (con. late 1950s) Take It from the Top 19: It [i.e. a cheap lodging house] was known as the ‘Scratch House’ because many of those bums had lice. |
2. a third-rate musical show, verging on burlesque.
| Parole Chief 201: A man who got her a job in the chorus line of a ‘scratch house’ (a low-grade, cheaply run show without orchestra, usually only with a pianist, where the chorines double as strippers). | |
| (con. 1930s) Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968) 211: She’s a grreat star and you’re just a bunch of scratch-house chippies. | |
| Youth in Baylon 272: We won’t play our picture in our home town first run in a skid-row scratch house, I promise you. | |
| (ref. to 1930) Easton 9: Practically abandoned in the 1920s, it emerged in 1930 as the Music Hall Theater, or ‘scratch house’ as the local youth liked to call it. |
Scotland.
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
| [ | | Satiric Tales 119: Moonland, Scratchland and Bogland have only one rumbo]. |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
| Paul Clifford III 128: I say, has you heard as how Bill Fang went to Scratch land (Scotland) and was stretched for smashing queer screens? (that is, hung for uttering forged notes). | |
| York Herald 12 Apr. 12/5: The numerous titles of Scotland — Scratchland, Itchland, Whigland. |
(US) the spinning of a car’s tyres during acceleration.
| Campus Sl. Fall 5: scratch off – the tires of a car spinning on the road or in dirt. |
(UK Und.) a letter.
| Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Scratch spread, a letter. |
In phrases
to spin a car’s tyres when accelerating.
| Current Sl. I:3 7/1: Scratch out, v. To spin tyres. |