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Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English *scucchen, from Anglo-Norman escucher, from Vulgar Latin *excuticāre.


  • IPA(key): /skʌt͡ʃ/
    • (file)
    Rhymes: -ʌtʃ



  1. (obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect) To beat or whip; to drub.
    • 1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff:


Scutch (or swingle) (sense 1)

scutch (countable and uncountable, plural scutches)

  1. (countable) A wooden implement shaped like a large knife used to separate the valuable fibres of flax or hemp by beating them and scraping from it the woody or coarse portions.
    Synonyms: scutcher, swingle
  2. (uncountable) The woody fibre of flax or hemp; the refuse of scutched flax or hemp.
    • 1897, Vincent J. Leatherdale, A Lady of Wales
      the labourers went peacefully about their usual employments, some driving teams of ponderous horses at the plough, others burning scutch and brambles, the rubbish of field and forest.
  3. (countable) A bricklayer's small picklike tool with two cutting edges (or prongs) for dressing stone or cutting and trimming bricks.
    Synonym: scotch

Etymology 2[edit]

From Irish.


scutch (plural scutches)

  1. A tuft or clump of grass.