ETCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does etch mean? 

• ETCH (verb)
  The verb ETCH has 5 senses:

1. make an etching of

2. cause to stand out or be clearly defined or visible

3. carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block

4. carve or cut a design or letters into

5. selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of electrons

  Familiarity information: ETCH used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ETCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they etch    ... he / she / it etches   
Past simple: etched   
Past participle: etched   
-ing form: etching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make an etching of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

He etched her image into the surface

Hypernyms (to "etch" is one way to...):

print (make into a print)

"Etch" entails doing...:

corrode; rust (become destroyed by water, air, or a corrosive such as an acid)

Domain category:

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "etch"):

aquatint (etch in aquatint)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

etcher (someone who etches)

etching (making engraved or etched plates and printing designs from them)

etching (an etched plate made with the use of acid)

etching (an impression made from an etched plate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to stand out or be clearly defined or visible

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

the leafless branches etched against the sky

Hypernyms (to "etch" is one way to...):

show (make visible or noticeable)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

engrave; etch

Context example:

engrave a letter

Hypernyms (to "etch" is one way to...):

print (make into a print)

Domain category:

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "etch"):

benday (reproduce by the Benday process)

stipple (engrave by means of dots and flicks)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Carve or cut a design or letters into

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

engrave; etch

Context example:

engrave the pen with the owner's name

Hypernyms (to "etch" is one way to...):

carve; chip at (engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface)

Verb group:

engrave; grave; inscribe; scratch (carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of electrons

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "etch" is one way to...):

dissolve (cause to fade away)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

A thick glass slide with a chamber with a defined volume that is etched with a precisely ruled grid and is used to quantify cells or cell-sized particles in suspension.

(Hemocytometer, NCI Thesaurus)

Examples of this technique include etching, writing and printing on nanoscale surfaces.

(Nanolithography, NCI Thesaurus)

The top is aluminum that is etched with stripes roughly 20 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

(Harvesting Electrical Power from Waste Heat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The chlorine-based ‘reactive ion’ etching process to create nanopillars causes the normally shiny surface of the titanium to turn black.

(Nanopillars help orthopaedic implants resist infection, SciDev.Net)

Nine lines etched on ancient clay tablets that tell the Gilgamesh Flood story can now be understood in very different ways – according to a Cambridge academic.

(‘Trickster god’ used fake news in Babylonian Noah story, University of Cambridge)

Phosphoric acid is used in dentistry and orthodontics as an etching solution, to clean and roughen the surfaces of teeth where dental appliances or fillings will be placed.

(Phosphoric acid, NCI Thesaurus)

An instrument that combines the use of a focused beam of gallium ions to etch or coat a sample with a scanning electron microscope to image the sample.

(Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscope, NCI Thesaurus)

The processing techniques, such as deposition, etching, and patterning, that are utilized to produce miniaturized structures and devices with feature sizes and resolution in the micron domain.

(Microfabrication, NCI Thesaurus)

Elsewhere, the surface appears to be etched by fields of small pits that may have formed by a process called sublimation, in which ice turns directly from solid to gas, just as dry ice does on Earth.

(New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’, NASA)

The patterned and etched aluminum antenna channels the infrared radiation into this thin layer.

(Harvesting Electrical Power from Waste Heat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)