Etch \Etch\, v. i.
   To practice etching; to make etchings.
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	Etch \Etch\, n.
   A variant of Eddish. [Obs.] --Mortimer.
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	Etch \Etch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Etched; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Etching.] [D. etsen, G. [aum]tzen to feed, corrode, etch.
   MHG. etzen, causative of ezzen to eat, G. essen ??. See
   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.
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   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.
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   2. To subject to etching; to draw upon and bite with acid, as
      a plate of metal.
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            I was etching a plate at the beginning of 1875.
                                                  --Hamerton.
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   3. To sketch; to delineate. [R.]
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            There are many empty terms to be found in some
            learned writes, to which they had recourse to etch
            out their system.                     --Locke.
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	etch
    v 1: make an etching of; "He etched her image into the surface"
    2: cause to stand out or be clearly defined or visible; "a face
       etched with pain"; "the leafless branches etched against the
       sky"
    3: carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from
       such a block; "engrave a letter" [syn: engrave, etch]
    4: carve or cut a design or letters into; "engrave the pen with
       the owner's name" [syn: engrave, etch]
    5: selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or
       printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of
       electrons

	

	58 Moby Thesaurus words for "etch":
   bed, bite, bring home to, carve, confirm, corrode, cut, deep-dye,
   define, delineate, depict, describe, eat, eat into, eat out, embed,
   engraft, engrave, engrave on, entrench, establish, fix, found,
   grave, ground, impact, implant, impress, impress upon, imprint,
   incise, inculcate, infix, ingrain, inscribe, instill, jam, lodge,
   make it felt, outline, pack, picture, plant, portray, print,
   represent, root, score, scratch, seat, set, set forth, set in,
   settle, stamp, stamp on, stereotype, wedge