subs. (old Scots’).—1. See quot.: also SCRAT (COLES).
1560. R. LINDSAY of Pitscottie, Cronicles (Edinburgh, 1883), I. 162. Thare was one borne quhich had the memberis both of male and female, called in oure language ane SCRATCH.
2. (old).—A swaggerer (HALLIWELL).
3. (old).—The itch (HALLIWELL). Hence SCRATCHLAND = Scotland: cf. SCOTS GREYS.
4. (old).—A miserly man (HALLIWELL).
5. (sporting).—In handicaps (a) a starting line for those contestants allowed no odds, (b) the time of starting, (c) a start, (d) contestants starting from the SCRATCH-line. In boxing, a line drawn across the RING (q.v.) to which boxers are brought for a SET-TO (GROSE). Hence TO COME (or BRING) UP TO (or TOE) THE SCRATCH = to be ready, willing.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, 51. Sprightly to the SCRATCH both Buffers came.
1821. P. EGAN, Life in London, I. i. I challenge thee to the SCRATCH! ’Tis one of the Fancy calls!
1825. T. JONES, The True Bottom’d Boxer [The Universal Songster, ii. 96]. He’s for the SCRATCH, and COME UP too IN TIME.
1827. SCOTT, The Two Drovers, ii. “How would you fight then?” said his antagonist; “though I am thinking it would be hard to BRING YOU TO THE SCRATCH anyhow.”
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, IV. ii. Bold came each buffer to the SCRATCH.
1857. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, II. iv. Wondering … if the gaining palms in a circus was the customary “flapper-shaking” before TOEING THE SCRATCH for business.
1880. Athenæum, 4 Sept., 316, 2. A young lady, apparently of about thirteen years of age, who comes on the stage in a short frock, BRINGS a timid and recalcitrant lover TO THE SCRATCH.
1885. Morning Post, 5 Feb. The former starting from SCRATCH, and the latter in receipt of 200 points.
1890. WALTER CAMP, Track Athletics in America, in The Century Magazine, xl. 207. The SCRATCH, or line from which the jump is taken, is a joist, some five inches wide, sunk flush with the ground.
1892. T. A. GUTHRIE (‘F. Anstey’), Voces Populi, ‘At the Military Tournament,’ 97. (The chestnut is at length brought UP TO THE SCRATCH snorting, etc.)
6. (billiards).—A FLUKE (q.v.).
Adj. (colloquial).—Generic for chance: hap-hazard, hasty, ‘first come, first served.’ Thus a SCRATCH-CREW (-TEAM, or -COMPANY) = a crew, &c., got together at short notice and without special selection; SCRATCH-RACE = a contest, unrestricted by conditions, a ‘Go-as-you-please’ affair; a SCRATCH-MEAL = a PICK-UP (q.v.) meal; &c., &c. Also TO SCRATCH ALONG = to manage somehow.
1859. LEVER, Davenport Dunn, lvi. Gathered together like what jockies call a SCRATCH-TEAM.
1869. Orchestra, 18 June. There is no English company—not the best—worthy of comparison with Felix’s SCRATCH TROUPE in respect of ensemble, of accurate detail.
1870. Figaro, 15 Feb. I do not much like the look of the SCRATCH COMPANY that Messrs. Montague, James, and Thorne have got together.
1874. M. and F. COLLINS, Frances, xlii. Frances and Cecilia, coming down, found a hasty luncheon, and everybody busy at it…. When this SCRATCH LUNCHEON was over, everybody went out.
1883. L. OLIPHANT, Altiora Peto, I. xvi. 261. A coarse-fibred, stumpy little man … whose vulgarity would have fatally handicapped any other woman than his lovely and talented wife in the social SCRATCH RACE.
1885. The Field, 4 April. Notwithstanding their long preparation and perfect coaching [they] looked like SCRATCH CREWS.
1888. Harper’s Magazine, lxxvii. 88. I suspect we’ll SCRATCH along all right.
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To expunge; to blot-out; spec. (a) to reject a horse, a candidate, &c.; and (b) to retire.
1860. W. H. RUSSELL, My Diary in India, 1. 189. His last act is to try and get his name SCRATCHED.
1868. WHYTE-MELVILLE, The White Rose, I. xiii. How’s the horse?… You haven’t SCRATCHED him, have ye, at the last minute?
1884. Daily Telegraph, 25 Aug., 3, 4. An acceptance of fourteen has already been cut down to a dozen by the SCRATCHING of Jetsam and Loch Ranza. Ibid. (1885), 6 Oct. One of his owner’s first actions … was to SCRATCH the horse.
1885. Daily Chronicle, 3 July. The Eton boys … made up their minds on Wednesday evening to SCRATCH. Ibid. (1888), 10 Dec. Grimsby Town received a bye, Gainsborough Trinity having SCRATCHED to them.
1888. Sporting Life, 18 Dec. As she was clearly handicapped out of the race at Wye I had no option but to SCRATCH her.
2. (colloquial).—To scribble: as subs. = a scrawl. SCRATCHER (U.S.) = a daybook.
1714. SWIFT, The Public Spirit of the Whigs. If any of their laborers can SCRATCH out a pamphlet, they desire no more; there is no question offered about the wit, the style, the argument.
1872. G. ELIOT, Middlemarch, lxxv. This is Chichely’s SCRATCH. What is he writing to you about?
1887. Philadelphia Ledger, 30 Dec. He [a bank teller] would not enter deposits in his SCRATCHER after a certain hour.
PHRASES.—NO GREAT SCRATCH = of little value; OLD SCRATCH (q.v.); TO SCRATCH ONE’S WOOL (tailors’) = to try one’s memory, to puzzle out; ‘SCRATCH my breech and I’ll claw your elbow’ (KA ME, KA THEE, q.v.); NOT A SIXPENCE TO SCRATCH HIS ARSE WITH = penniless.
1844. W. T. THOMPSON, Major Jones’s Courtship, 136. Ther’s a good many Joneses in Georgia, and I know some myself that ain’t NO GREAT SCRATCHES.
