etch
verb/ɛt͡ʃ/
Etymology From Dutch etsen (“to etch”), from German ätzen (“to etch”), from Old High German azzon (“to cause to bite or feed”), from Proto-Germanic *atjaną, causative of *etaną (“to eat”) (whence also English eat).
1
To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.
2
To engrave a surface.
3
Figuratively To make a lasting impression.
- The memory of 9/11 is etched into my mind.
4
To sketch; to delineate.
- There are many such empty terms to be found in some learned writers, to which they had recourse to etch out their system.a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- cryoetch, etchable, etcher, etchplain, etchplanation, microetch, overetch, photoetch, piranha etch, self-etch, total-etch, underetch