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welch

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welch

  [welch, welsh]
Use welch in a Sentence
–verb (used without object) Informal.
welsh.
Related forms:
welcher, noun
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Welch

  [welch, welsh]
–adjective, noun
Welsh.

Welch

  [welch, welsh]
–noun
1. James, born 1940, U.S. poet and novelist.
2. Joseph Nye, 1890–1960, U.S. trial lawyer.
3. Robert, Jr., 1899–1985, U.S. candy manufacturer: founder of the John Birch Society 1958.
4. William Henry, 1850–1934, U.S. medical pathologist and educator.

welsh

  [welsh, welch]
–verb (used without object) Informal: Sometimes Offensive.
1. to cheat by failing to pay a gambling debt: You aren't going to welsh on me, are you?
2. to go back on one's word: He welshed on his promise to help in the campaign.
Also, welch.

Origin:
1855–60; perh. special use of Welsh

Related forms:
welsher, noun

Welsh

  [welsh, welch]
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to Wales, its people, or their language.
–noun
2. the inhabitants of Wales and their descendants elsewhere.
3. Also called Cymric, Kymric. the Celtic language of Wales.
4. one of a white, lop-eared breed of swine of Welsh origin that produces a large amount of lean meat.
Also, Welch.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME Welische, OE Welisc, deriv. of Walh Briton, foreigner (cf. L Volcae a Gallic tribe); c. G welsch foreign, Italian
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To welch
welch   (wělch)   
v.  Variant of welsh.
welsh   (wělsh, wělch)   
intr.v.   welshed also welched, welsh·ing also welch·ing, welsh·es also welch·es Informal

  1. To swindle a person by not paying a debt or wager.

  2. To fail to fulfill an obligation.


[Origin unknown.]
welsh'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

welch 
1857, racing slang, "to refuse or avoid payment of money laid as a bet," probably a disparaging use of the national name Welsh.

Welsh 
O.E. Wilisc, Wylisc (W.Saxon), Welisc, Wælisc (Anglian and Kentish), from Wealh, Walh "Celt, Briton, Welshman, non-Germanic foreigner;" in Tolkien's definition, "common Gmc. name for a man of what we should call Celtic speech," but also applied to speakers of Latin, hence O.H.G. Walh, Walah "Celt, Roman, Gaulish," and O.N. Valir "Gauls, Frenchmen" (Dan. vælsk "Italian, French, southern"); from P.Gmc. *Walkhiskaz, from a Celtic name represented by L. Volcæ (Caesar) "ancient Celtic tribe in southern Gaul." The word survives in Wales, Cornwall, Walloon, walnut, and in surnames Walsh and Wallace. Borrowed in O.C.S. as vlachu, and applied to Romanians, hence Walachia. Among the English, Welsh was used disparagingly of inferior or substitute things, hence Welsh rabbit (1725), also perverted by folk-etymology as Welsh rarebit (1785).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Welch (wělch, wělsh), William Henry. 1850-1934.

American pathologist and bacteriologist who discovered the bacteria that causes gas gangrene.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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