/ skɒtʃ; NAmE skɑːtʃ/ verb
[ vn ] to stop sth from happening; to take action to end sth :
Plans for a merger have been scotched.
Rumours that he had fled the country were promptly scotched by his wife.
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WORD ORIGIN
early 17th cent. (as a noun): of unknown origin; perhaps related to the verb skate . The sense render temporarily harmless is based on an emendation of Shakespeare's Macbeth III. ii. 13 as “We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it”, originally understood as a use of scotch to cut or score skin ; the sense put an end to (early 19th cent.) results from the influence on this of the notion of wedging or blocking something so as to render it inoperative.