thatch meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

thatch

noun

/θæt͡ʃ/

Etymology Variant of thack, from Middle English thache, thach, from Old English þæc (“roof-covering”), from Proto-West Germanic *þak, from Proto-Germanic *þaką (“covering”), from (o-grade of) Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“cover”). Cognate with Icelandic þak, Dutch dak, German Dach, Norwegian tak, Swedish tak, Danish tag; and with Latin toga, Albanian thak (“awn, beard, pin, peg, tassel, fringe”), Lithuanian stogas (“roof”), Welsh to (“roof”). Related to Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”) and στέγη (stégē, “roof”). See also English deech, deck.

Straw, rushes, or similar, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain.

Just over halfway up, we reached the Human settlement with its houses of stone and wood and thatch. This was a prewar place.1989, Octavia E. Butler, “Part III, Chapter 7”, in Imago, page 210:

Caribbean Any of several kinds of palm, the leaves of which are used for thatching.

A buildup of cut grass, stolons or other material on the soil in a lawn.

Mark Ladd, the venue’s assistant director of operations, notes that the fake greenery looks authentic: the height and colour of the blades are varied, with a few brown ones thrown in to emulate dead thatch.2015 May 30, Rob Kuznia, “California turns to fake grass in response to drought”, in The Guardian:

Broadly, Figuratively Any strawlike material, such as a person's hair.

Brown was a compact dark-skinned man in his forties, with strong features and a dense thatch of brown hair that sprang from his crown at an angle, though it had been brushed to either side of an indeterminate part.2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Profitable Wonders”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 52:
An outgoing, story-telling Irishman from Butte, Montana, with his thatch of red hair and sandpapered face, Matt was the quintessential imp.2008, Wallace Madding, The Country Club Killings: A Montana Story, page 21:

Synonyms: haulm
Derived terms: big thatch, dethatch, overthatch, silver thatch, thatchless, thatchlike, thatch rake, thatch-rake, thatchwork, thatchy, underthatch

thatch

verb

Etymology From Middle English thacchen, from Old English þeċċan, þeċċean (“to cover”), from Proto-West Germanic *þakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *þakjaną (“to cover”), from Proto-Germanic *þaką (“cover, covering”, noun) (see above). Cognate with West Frisian dekke, Dutch dekken, German decken, Danish tække, Swedish täcka. Alteration of vowel after Middle English perhaps due to the above noun.

To cover the roof with straw, reed, leaves, etc.

Derived terms: bethatch, overthatch, rethatch, Thatch, thatched, thatcher, Thatcher, thatching, unthatch

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