English

Verb

potch ‎(third-person singular simple present potches, present participle potching, simple past and past participle potched)

1. To thrust.
   • c. 1605-08, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act I, Scene X, 1864, Charles Cowden Clarke, Mary Cowden Clarke (editors), Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare: The Plays of Shakespeare, Volume 3: Tragedies, page 83,

     I'll potch at him some way, / Or wrath or craft may get him.

2. To trample.
   • 1837, John Orville Taylor, The Farmer′s School Book, page 116,

     Afterwards, the second pasture should be treated in the same manner, and the rest in course, feeding the wettest pasture after the driest, that the soil may be less potched.

Etymology 2

Noun

potch ‎(uncountable)

1. (chiefly Australia, mineralogy, gemmology) A type of rough opal without colour, and therefore not worth selling.
   • 1982, Gemmological Association of Great Britain, The Journal of Gemmology, Volume 18, page 432,

     Discusses the difference between potch opal and common opal. The terms are often used synonymously, but this writer shows that potch is found only in association with precious opal and differs from common opal in its structure quite substantially.

   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 75,

     She set them down with precision, she set them down with the same kind of care that Bernie took when he and his underlings cut opal, or when they polished the rough stones, or when they bonded opal veneer on to potch.

   • 2006, Michael O'Donoghue, Gems: Their Sources, Descriptions and Identification, 6th Edition, Elsevier, UK, page 321,

     Likewise, a thin piece of good opal on potch (opal with no play of colour) may be cut so that the potch acts as a backing.

Etymology 3

Verb

potch ‎(third-person singular simple present potches, present participle potching, simple past and past participle potched)

1. Obsolete form of poach (to cook in simmering water).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wiseman to this entry?)

   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: Or, A Natural History, in Ten Centuries, 1670, page 14,

     The Yolks of Eggs are of themſelves ſo well prepared by Nature for nourishment, as (ſo they be Potched, or Rear boyled) they need no other preparation or mixture; yet they may be taken alſo raw, when they are new laid, with Malmſey or Sweet Wine.

   • 1849, Ambroise Paré, Thomas Johnson (translator), Adriaan van den Spiegel (additional tractates), Concerning the Plague, The Workes of that Famous Chirurgion Ambroſe Parey, page 553,

     Eggs potched and eaten with the juice of Sorrel, are verie good. Likewiſe Barlie-water ſeaſoned with the grains of a tart Pomgranat, and if the Fever bee vehement, with the ſeeds of white Poppie.

   • 1860, Notes and Queries, The Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 1: For 1860, page 167,

     And if a man should break his fast with a light and nourishing meate, then I say there is nothing better than a couple of egges potched, or the yolkes of two egges sodden rere and put in one shell, seasoned with a little pepper, butter and salt, supped off warme, drinking after it a good draught of claret wine.

See also

• hotchpotch

Anagrams

• chopt