blotch
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /blɒtʃ/
ipa: /blɑt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -ɒtʃ
Forms: form: blotches
form: blotching
form: blotched
form: blotched
Etymology: Uncertain. Perhaps a blend of blot + botch.
Senses: examples: text: 1770, Arthur Young, A Six Months Tour through the North of England, London: W. Strahan, Volume 2, p. 258,
Upon the whole, the spirit and relief of the figures, with the strength of the colouring, render it a most noble picture; and it is not done in the coarse blotching stile, so common to the pieces which pass under the name of Bassan.
text: A straight-edge is placed upon the chalk lines, with the edge next the line slightly raised, and the brush, well filled with colour, drawn along it, just touching the wall, the pressure being never increased, and the brush refilled whenever it is near failing; but great care must be taken that it be not too full, as in that case it will be apt to blotch the line, or drop the colour upon the lower portions of the wall.
ref: 1860, W. R. Tymms, chapter 40, in The Art of Illuminating as Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times, London: Day & Son, page 84:
text: Just beyond were two ancient stone pillars, weather-stained and lichen-blotched bearing upon their summits a shapeless something which had once been the rampant lion of Capus of Birlstone.
ref: 1914, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear, Part 1, Chapter 4:
text: 1918, D. H. Lawrence, Parliament Hill in the Evening in New Poems,
The houses fade in a melt of mist
Blotching the thick, soiled air
With reddish places that still resist
The Night’s slow care.
text: His strong skin was of the Norse snow-fed pallor that no sun ever tanned, no adolescence ever blotched.
ref: 1934, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 1, in Work of Art:
text: Returning on time is crucial, because a late return can be considered a tardy, and too many tardies can blotch an employment record.
ref: 2007, Patricia A. Gwartney, The Telephone Interviewer's Handbook, →ISBN:
text: The only thing you can do in finishing that can't be fixed fairly easily is to blotch the wood with a stain.
ref: 2010, Bob Flexner, Flexner on Finishing, →ISBN:
text: There are some pointers which a hand operating an iron must keep in mind: If a brand is not burned deep enough, it will not peel, and if the iron is too hot, especially when a complicated stamp iron is used, it is pretty sure to blotch the brand.
ref: 2013, Fay E. Ward -, The Cowboy at Work, →ISBN:
text: A slightly incorrect choice of wood for the smoking fire or allowing the smoke to grow too thick can blotch its finish and result in a nearly unusable finished hide.
ref: 2015, Henry S. Sharp, Karyn Sharp, Hunting Caribou, →ISBN:
glosses: To mark with blotches.
examples: text: 1878, Arthur Morecamp (pseudonym of Thomas Pilgrim), Live Boys; or, Charley and Nasho in Texas, Boston: Lee & Shepard, Chapter 17, p. 166,
[…] when a man is going to drive cattle out of the county he has to put a road-brand on them […] It is generally made of letters or figures, or something that won’t cross lines, because where they cross they are apt to blotch and then it’s hard to tell what the brand is and who the animal belongs to.
text: Our waistline will extend a few more inches at least, and our aging skin will blotch and sag.
ref: 2008, Mary Jane Warr, Making Sense of Self-Esteem, →ISBN, page 10:
text: These areas, which also will take longer to dry, are the ones that will blotch when a dye or oil-based finish is applied.
ref: 2011, Fine Woodworking Best Finishing Techniques, →ISBN, page 207:
text: The simpler the brand, the lesser the likelihood that it will blotch and be unsightly and hard to read.
ref: 2012, Sue Weaver, Storey's Guide to Raising Miniature Livestock, →ISBN:
glosses: To develop blotches, to become blotchy.
Derived terms: word: blotched