ETCH

etch

(verb) selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of electrons

engrave, etch

(verb) carve or cut a design or letters into; “engrave the pen with the owner’s name”

engrave, etch

(verb) carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block; “engrave a letter”

etch

(verb) make an etching of; “He etched her image into the surface”

etch

(verb) cause to stand out or be clearly defined or visible; “a face etched with pain”; “the leafless branches etched against the sky”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Verb

etch (third-person singular simple present etches, present participle etching, simple past and past participle etched)

To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.

To engrave a surface.

(figuratively) To make a lasting impression.

To sketch; to delineate.

Etymology 2

Noun

etch

Obsolete form of eddish.

Anagrams

• Chet, Tech., chet, echt, hect-, tech

Source: Wiktionary

Etch, n.

Definition: A variant of Eddish. [Obs.] Mortimer.

Etch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Etched; p. pr. & vb. n. Etching.] Etym: [D. etsen, G. ätzen to feed, corrode, etch. MHG. etzen, causative of ezzen to eat, G. essen Eat.]

1. To produce, as figures or designs, on mental, glass, or the like, by means of lines or strokes eaten in or corroded by means of some strong acid.

Note: The plate is first covered with varnish, or some other ground capable of resisting the acid, and this is then scored or scratched with a needle, or similar instrument, so as to form the drawing; the plate is then covered with acid, which corrodes the metal in the lines thus laid bare.

2. To subject to etching; to draw upon and bite with acid, as a plate of metal. I was etching a plate at the beginning of 1875. Hamerton.

3. To sketch; to delineate. [R.] There are many empty terms to be found in some learned writes, to which they had recourse to etch out their system. Locke.

Etch, v. i.

Definition: To practice etching; to make etchings.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition