notch

[ noch ]
See synonyms for notch on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an angular or V-shaped cut, indentation, or slit in an object, surface, or edge.

  2. a cut or nick made in a stick or other object for record, as in keeping a tally.

  1. New England and Upstate New York. a deep, narrow opening or pass between mountains; gap; defile.

  2. Informal. a step, degree, or grade: This camera is a notch better than the other.

  3. Metallurgy. a taphole in a blast furnace: iron notch; cinder notch.

verb (used with object)
  1. to cut or make a notch in.

  2. to record by notches: He notched each kill on the stick.

  1. to score, as in a game: He notched another win.

Idioms about notch

  1. notch up / down, to move up or down or increase or decrease by notches or degrees: The temperature has notched up another degree.

Origin of notch

1
1570–80; a notch (by false division) for an*otch<Old French oche notch

Other words from notch

  • notchy, adjective
  • un·notched, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use notch in a sentence

  • Notching, to form the expanded stem, was accomplished by removal of fairly deep flakes and finished by light grinding.

  • Cut a forked stick about 12 inches long for the bait stick, notching one end and tapering the other as shown in Fig.

    Deadfalls and Snares | A. R. (Arthur Robert) Harding

British Dictionary definitions for notch

notch

/ (nɒtʃ) /


noun
  1. a V-shaped cut or indentation; nick

  2. a cut or nick made in a tally stick or similar object

  1. US and Canadian a narrow pass or gorge

  2. informal a step or level (esp in the phrase a notch above)

verb(tr)
  1. to cut or make a notch in

  2. to record with or as if with a notch

  1. (usually foll by up) informal to score or achieve: the team notched up its fourth win

Origin of notch

1
C16: from incorrect division of an otch (as a notch), from Old French oche notch, from Latin obsecāre to cut off, from secāre to cut

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with notch

notch

see take down a notch.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.