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botch

[boch]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object)

to spoil by poor work; bungle (often followed by up): He botched up the job thoroughly.

to do or say in a bungling manner.

to mend or patch in a clumsy manner.

noun

a clumsy or poor piece of work; mess; bungle: He made a complete botch of his first attempt at baking.

a clumsily added part or patch.

a disorderly or confused combination; conglomeration.

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Botch is one of our favorite verbs.

So is lollygag. Does it mean:

to spend time idly; loaf.

to flee; abscond:

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Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English bocchen to patch up; perhaps to be identified with bocchen to swell up, bulge (verbal derivative of bocche botch²), though sense development unclear

Related forms

botch·ed·ly

[boch-id-lee] , adverb

botch·er, noun

botch·er·y, noun

Synonyms
1. ruin, mismanage; muff, butcher, flub.

Example Sentences

Vance and the spectacular botch that his office has made of this case.

Botch a few of those decisions and you will come to know the true meaning of misery.

Governments that botched it were equally likely to botch the management of state-owned firms.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a swelling on the skin; a boil.

an eruptive disease.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English bocche < Old French boche, dialectal variant of boce boss²

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To botch

Collins

World English Dictionary

botch (bɒtʃ)

—vb (often foll by up)
1.	to spoil through clumsiness or ineptitude
2.	to repair badly or clumsily

—n
3.	Also called: botch-up a badly done piece of work or repair (esp in the phrase make a botch of (something))

[C14: of unknown origin]

'botcher

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

botch

late 14c., bocchen "to repair," later, "to spoil by unskillful work" (1520s); of unknown origin.

Easton

Bible Dictionary