etch

Verb
Synonyms: engrave

WordNet 3.0

Verb (5)

  1. make an etching of“He etched her image into the surface”
  2. cause to stand out or be clearly defined or visible“a face etched with pain”“the leafless branches etched against the sky”
  3. carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block“engrave a letter”Synonyms: engrave
  4. carve or cut a design or letters into“engrave the pen with the owner's name”Synonyms: engrave
  5. selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of electrons
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Etch \Etch\, v. i. To practice etching; to make etchings. [1913 Webster]
Etch \Etch\, n. A variant of Eddish. [Obs.] --Mortimer. [1913 Webster]
Etch \Etch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Etched; p. pr. & vb. n. Etching.] [D. etsen, G. [aum]tzen to feed, corrode, etch. MHG. etzen, causative of ezzen to eat, G. essen ??. See Eat.]

1.To produce, as figures or designs, on mental, glass, or the like, by means of lines or strokes eaten in or corroded by means of some strong acid. [1913 Webster]

Note: The plate is first covered with varnish, or some other ground capable of resisting the acid, and this is then scored or scratched with a needle, or similar instrument, so as to form the drawing; the plate is then covered with acid, which corrodes the metal in the lines thus laid bare. [1913 Webster]

2.To subject to etching; to draw upon and bite with acid, as a plate of metal. [1913 Webster]

I was etching a plate at the beginning of 1875.— Hamerton.[1913 Webster]

3.To sketch; to delineate. [R.] [1913 Webster]

There are many empty terms to be found in some learned writes, to which they had recourse to etch out their system.— Locke.[1913 Webster]
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