Part 732

Fancies hatched In silken-folded idleness.

Tennyson.

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

Hatch, n. 1. The act of hatching.

2. Development; disclosure; discovery. Shak.

3. The chickens produced at once or by one incubation; a brood.

Hatch, n. [OE. hacche, AS. hÊc, cf. haca the bar of a door, D. hek gate, Sw. h‰ck 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.

In at the window, or else o'er the hatch.

Shak.

2. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.

3. A flood gate; a sluice gate. Ainsworth.

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

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.

6. (Mining) An opening into, or in search of, a mine.

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.

Hatch, v. t. To close with a hatch or hatches.

'T were not amiss to keep our door hatched.

Shak.

Hatch"-boat` (hch"bt`), n. (Naut.) A vessel whose deck consists almost wholly of movable hatches; -- used mostly in the fisheries.

Hatch"el (-l; 277), n. [OE. hechele, hekele; akin to D. hekel, G. hechel, Dan. hegle, Sw. h‰kla, 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.

Hatch"el, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hatcheled or Hatchelled (-ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Hatcheling or Hatchelling.] [OE. hechelen, hekelen; akin to D. hekelen, G. hecheln, Dan. hegle, Sw. h‰kla. 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.

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

Hatch"el*er (-r), n. One who uses a hatchel.

Hatch"er (-r), n. 1. One who hatches, or that which hatches; a hatching apparatus; an incubator.

2. One who contrives or originates; a plotter.

A great hatcher and breeder of business.

Swift.

Hatch"er*y (-), n. A house for hatching fish, etc.