Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Botch?

\Botch\, n.; pl. {Botches}. [Same as Boss a stud. For senses 2 & 3 cf. D. botsen to beat, akin to E. beat.] 1. A swelling on the skin; a large ulcerous affection; a boil; an eruptive disease. [Obs. or Dial.] Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss. --Milton. 2. A patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner. 3. Work done in a bungling manner; a clumsy performance; a piece of work, or a place in work, marred in the doing, or not properly finished; a bungle. To leave no rubs nor botches in the work. --Shak.
\Botch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Botched}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Botching}.] [See {Botch}, n.] 1. To mark with, or as with, botches. Young Hylas, botched with stains. --Garth. 2. To repair; to mend; esp. to patch in a clumsy or imperfect manner, as a garment; -- sometimes with up. Sick bodies . . . to be kept and botched up for a time. --Robynson (More's Utopia). 3. To put together unsuitably or unskillfully; to express or perform in a bungling manner; to spoil or mar, as by unskillful work. For treason botched in rhyme will be thy bane. --Dryden.