- scratch (v.)
- c.1400, probably a fusion of Middle English scratten and crachen, both meaning "to scratch," both of uncertain origin. Related: Scratched; scratching. Billiards sense of "to hit the cue ball into a pocket" is first recorded 1909 (also, originally, itch), though earlier it meant "a lucky shot" (1850). Meaning "to withdraw (a horse) from a race" is 1865, from notion of scratching name off list of competitors; used in a non-sporting sense of "cancel a plan, etc." from 1680s.
- scratch (n.)
- 1580s, from scratch (v.). Slang sense of "money" is from 1914, of uncertain signification. Many figurative senses (e.g. up to scratch) are from sporting use for "line or mark drawn as a starting place," attested from 1778 (but the earliest use is figurative); meaning "nothing" (in from scratch) is 1922, also from sporting sense of "starting point of a competitor who receives no odds in a handicap match."
- Scratch (n.)
- in Old Scratch "the Devil," 1740, is from earlier Scrat, from Old Norse skratte "goblin, monster," a word which was used in late Old English for "hermaphrodite" (cf. Old High German scrato "satyr, wood demon").