Scotch (adjective)
Scotch is an adjective meaning "of Scotland". The modern usage in Scotland is Scottish or Scots, where the word "Scotch" is only applied to specific products, usually food or drink, such as Scotch whisky, Scotch pie, Scotch broth, Scotch tape, or Scotch eggs, and "Scotch" if applied to people is widely considered pejorative, reflecting old Anglo-Scottish antagonisms. However, 'Scotch' is still widely used in England and Ireland, and in common use in North America.
The verb scotch is unrelated to the noun, and is not related to "Scotland". It derives from Anglo-French escocher meaning "to notch, nick", from coche, "a notch, groove", extended in English to mean "to put an abrupt end to", with the forms "scotched", "scotching", "scotches". For example: "The prime minister scotched the rumours of her illness by making a public appearance."
Read more about Scotch (adjective): Decline in Usage
Famous quotes containing the word scotch:
“It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. The only idea of wit, or rather that inferior variety of the electric talent which prevails occasionally in the North, and which, under the name of “Wut,” is so infinitely distressing to people of good taste, is laughing immoderately at stated intervals.”
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845)