Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

etch       (ěch)  Pronunciation Key  v.   etched, etch·ing, etch·es v.   tr. To cut into the surface of (glass, for example) by the action of acid. To make or create by this method: etch a design on glass. To impress, delineate, or imprint clearly: a landscape that is forever etched in my memory; trees that were etched against the winter sky. v.   intr. To engage in etching. [Dutch etsen, from German ätzen, from Middle High German etzen, from Old High German ezzen, to eat; see ed- in Indo-European roots.] etch'er n.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
etch 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

etch
verb
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]
4.	carve or cut a design or letters into; "engrave the pen with the owner's name" [syn: engrave]
5.	selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of electrons

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Etch

Bit"ing in"\ (Etching.) The process of corroding or eating into metallic plates, by means of an acid. See Etch. --G. Francis.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Etch

Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent & Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.] [OE. eten, AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan, G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. ["a]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan, Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. [root]6. Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.]

1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. "To eat grass as oxen." --Dan. iv. 25.

They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps. cvi. 28.

The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine. --Gen. xli. 20.

The lion had not eaten the carcass. --1 Kings xiii. 28.

With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the junkets eat. --Milton.

The island princes overbold Have eat our substance. --Tennyson.

His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages. --Thackeray.

2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear.

To eat humble pie. See under Humble.

To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." --Keble.

To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blurt.)

To eat out, to consume completely. "Eat out the heart and comfort of it." --Tillotson.

To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to windward of her.

Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Etch

Etch\, n. A variant of Eddish. [Obs.] --Mortimer.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

etch

etch: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary