n. [ OE. hacche, AS. hæc, cf. haca the bar of a door, D. hek gate, Sw. häck coop, rack, Dan. hekke manger, rack. Prob. akin to E. hook, and first used of something made of pieces fastened together. Cf. Heck, Hack a frame. ] 1. A door with an opening over it; a half door, sometimes set with spikes on the upper edge. [ 1913 Webster ]

In at the window, or else o'er the hatch. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A flood gate; a sluice gate. Ainsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A bedstead. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An opening in the deck of a vessel or floor of a warehouse which serves as a passageway or hoistway; a hatchway; also; a cover or door, or one of the covers used in closing such an opening. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mining) An opening into, or in search of, a mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Booby hatch,
Buttery hatch,
Companion hatch, etc. See under Booby, Buttery, etc. --
To batten down the hatches (Naut.), to lay tarpaulins over them, and secure them with battens. --
To be under hatches, to be confined below in a vessel; to be under arrest, or in slavery, distress, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of hatching. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Development; disclosure; discovery. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The chickens produced at once or by one incubation; a brood. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To close with a hatch or hatches. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T were not amiss to keep our door hatched. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hatched p. pr. & vb. n. Hatching. ] [ F. hacher to chop, hack. See Hash. ] 1. To cross with lines in a peculiar manner in drawing and engraving. See Hatching. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shall win this sword, silvered and hatched. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those hatching strokes of the pencil. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cross; to spot; to stain; to steep. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His weapon hatched in blood. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OE. hacchen, hetchen; akin to G. hecken, Dan. hekke; cf. MHG. hagen bull; perh. akin to E. hatch a half door, and originally meaning, to produce under a hatch. √12. ] 1. To produce, as young, from an egg or eggs by incubation, or by artificial heat; to produce young from (eggs); as, the young when hatched. Paley. [ 1913 Webster ]

As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not. Jer. xvii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

For the hens do not sit upon the eggs; but by keeping them in a certain equal heat they [ the husbandmen ] bring life into them and hatch them. Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To contrive or plot; to form by meditation, and bring into being; to originate and produce; to concoct; as, to hatch mischief; to hatch heresy. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fancies hatched
In silken-folded idleness. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To produce young; -- said of eggs; to come forth from the egg; -- said of the young of birds, fishes, insects, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A vessel whose deck consists almost wholly of movable hatches; -- used mostly in the fisheries. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. [ p. p. from hatch, v. i. ] produced from an egg. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hatcheled or Hatchelled p. pr. & vb. n. Hatcheling or Hatchelling. ] [ OE. hechelen, hekelen; akin to D. hekelen, G. hecheln, Dan. hegle, Sw. häkla. See Hatchel, n. ] 1. To draw through the teeth of a hatchel, as flax or hemp, so as to separate the coarse and refuse parts from the fine, fibrous parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To tease; to worry; to torment. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. hechele, hekele; akin to D. hekel, G. hechel, Dan. hegle, Sw. häkla, and prob. to E. hook. See Hook, and cf. Hackle, Heckle. ] An instrument with long iron teeth set in a board, for cleansing flax or hemp from the tow, hards, or coarse part; a kind of large comb; -- called also hackle and heckle. [ 1913 Webster ]