notch
Definitions
General English
- noun a small V-shaped cut
Cars & Driving
- noun a V- or U-shaped indentation cut into a test piece, test bar, or into a moulded part
Cricket
- noun a run
- noun an incision cut in a stick or tally as an early method of recording the scoring of a runCitation ‘They are sole Judges of all Hindrances … and in Case of Hindrance may order a Notch to be scor’d’ (Laws 1744)Citation ‘Awakened echo speaks the innings o’er
And forty notches deep indent the score’ (James Love, Cricket: an Heroic Poem, 1746) - verb to score the stated number of runsCitation ‘All-Muggleton had notched some fifty-four’ (Dickens, Pickwick Papers 1837, ch 7)
- verb to act as scorer; keep the scoreCitation ‘The umpires were stationed behind the wickets; the scorers were prepared to notch the runs; a breathless silence ensued’ (Dickens, ibid)
Electronics
- A V-shaped cut or indentation. Also, to make such a cut or indentation.
- A cut, indentation, perforation, or the like which serves to distinguish, indicate, or identify. For example, that utilized to indicate where a record ends.
- That which is in the shape of a notch (1), such as the frequency response of a notch filter.
Human Resources
- noun an increment on a salary scale
Medical
- noun a depression on a surface, usually on a bone, but sometimes on an organ.
Slang
- noun the female sex organs
Origin & History of “notch”
Not much is known for certain about the word notch, apart from the fact that its immediate source, Anglo-Norman noche, existed at least a couple of centuries before English acquired it. there may well be some connection with Old French oche ‘groove, notch’ (probable source of the English darts term oche ‘line where the dart-thrower stands’); the initial n could well have arisen by misdivision of a preceding indefinite article (as happened with nickname).
