I. ˈhach noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English hache, hacche, from Old English hæc; akin to Middle Dutch hecke trapdoor, grating, Middle Low German heck fence
1.
a. obsolete : the lower half of a divided door
in at the window or else o'er the hatch — Shakespeare
b. : a small door, wicket, or serving counter
equipped with an escape hatch for use in case of fire — W.H.Goodenough
shop through a hatch in the wall — Time
snatched up two plates of cold tongue … from the serving-room hatch — Margaret Kennedy
2.
a. obsolete
(1) : movable planking over the cargo hold of a ship — usually used in plural
(2) : deck — usually used in plural
upon the giddy footing of the hatches — Shakespeare
b. : a door or grated cover giving vertical access down into a compartment
smoke rose through the same hatch where … men could climb to the cannon deck — J.H.Cutler
the inspector lifts the hatch in the top of the oil storage tank
specifically : the cover of a tank turret
one of the .50-caliber guns can be … fired from inside without opening the turret hatch — Military Review
c. : hatchway
d. : an enclosed space : compartment
her hatches were enlarged and her lumber-carrying career … resumed — H.G.Peterson
device … the airman is placing in its release hatch — New York Times Magazine
3. : something that resembles a hatch: as
a. : floodgate , sluice gate
b. : an opening or door in the deck or fuselage of an airplane (as for a means of escape in an emergency or for loading cargo)
c. : a frame or weir in a river for catching fish
II. ˈ(h)ach transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
now dialect England : to close (a door) with a hatch
III. ˈhach verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English hacchen; akin to Middle High German hecken to mate (said of birds)
intransitive verb
1. : to produce young from an egg by incubation
the hen hatched today
2.
a. : to emerge from an egg, pupa, or chrysalis
watched the chickens hatch
begins to hatch from the chrysalis in early July — E.B.Ford
— often used with off or out
b. : to give forth young or imagoes
the eggs hatched today
3. : to incubate eggs : brood
the old hen is hatching
transitive verb
1. archaic : breed , propagate
what monsters now doth nature hatch — Mirour for Magistrates
serving as a nursery bed to hatch … the infant plant — William Bartram
2.
a. : to cause the development and hatching of (young) from eggs by providing natural or artificial heat
a duck … which hatched chickens — Margaret Deland
b. : to cause the development and hatching of young from (eggs) by providing natural or artificial heat
an incubator can hatch more eggs at a time than a hen
turtle eggs are hatched by the sun
3. : to bring into being : originate , produce
hatching a program of economic aid — E.K.Lindley
they repair to the little summer place to garden and smoke pipes, they hatch books, they go fishing — George Spelvin
especially : to concoct in secret
hatch a conspiracy
— often used with up
when was all this hatched up — Ann Bridge
IV. noun
( -es )
1.
a. : an act of hatching
congregate in family groups soon after the hatch — W.W.Haines
b. : the transformation of a swarm of insects from a water-dwelling to a winged phase
trout were rising freely to a hatch of small gray flies — F.C.Craighead b. 1916 & J.J.Craighead
2. : a product of hatching : brood of young
the entire hatch in an incubator — J.E.Shillinger & L.C.Morley
V. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English hachen, from Middle French hacher, from Old French hachier to chop up — more at hash
1. : to inlay in fine lines : apply narrow bands of a different color or material to
2. : to mark with fine closely spaced parallel or crisscrossed lines in drawing or engraving chiefly to represent shading — see hatching III
VI. noun
( -es )
: stroke , line ; especially : one used in engraving or drawing to give the effect of shading