hatch

Etymology 1

From Middle English hacche, hache, from Old English hæċ, from Proto-West Germanic *hakkju (compare Dutch hek ‘gate, railing’, Low German Heck ‘pasture gate, farmyard gate’), variant of *haggju ‘hedge’. More at hedge.

noun

1. A horizontal door in a floor or ceiling.
2. A trapdoor.
3. An opening in a wall at window height for the purpose of serving food or other items. A pass through.
   The cook passed the dishes through the serving hatch.
4. A small door in large mechanical structures and vehicles such as aircraft and spacecraft often provided for access for maintenance.
   A surprising number of incidents is due to roof hatches being left loose or in the raised position when locomotives return to service after maintenance. On one occasion, a 25kV overhead line was damaged by an open hatch. 1963 February, “Diesel locomotive faults and their remedies”, in Modern Railways, page 100
5. (nautical) An opening through the deck of a ship or submarine
6. (slang) A gullet.
7. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.
8. A floodgate; a sluice gate.
   The farmers lower down the brook pull up the hatches to let the flood pass. 1879, Richard Jeffries, Wild Life in a Southern County
9. (Scotland) A bedstead.
10. (mining) An opening into, or in search of, a mine.

verb

1. (transitive) To close with a hatch or hatches.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hacche, hacchen (“to propagate”), from Old English *hæċċan, āhaċċian (“to peck out; hatch”), from Proto-Germanic *hakjaną. Cognate with German hecken ‘to breed, spawn’, Danish hække (“to hatch”), Swedish häcka (“to breed”); akin to Latvian kakale ‘penis’.

verb

1. (intransitive, of young animals) To emerge from an egg.
2. (intransitive, of eggs) To break open when a young animal emerges from it.
3. (transitive) To incubate eggs; to cause to hatch.
4. (transitive) To devise (a plot or scheme).
   As for Cersei, pretending to work with her enemies while secretly hatching some grander scheme was pretty much what I expected for the truce going into it. August 27, 2017, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

noun

1. The act of hatching.
2. (figurative) Development; disclosure; discovery.
3. (poultry) A group of birds that emerged from eggs at a specified time.
   These pullets are from an April hatch.
4. (often as mayfly hatch) The phenomenon, lasting 1–2 days, of large clouds of mayflies appearing in one location to mate, having reached maturity.
   a. 1947, Edward R. Hewitt, quoted in 1947, Charles K. Fox, Redistribution of the Green Drake, 1997, Norm Shires, Jim Gilford (editors), Limestone Legends, page 104, The Willowemoc above Livington Manor had the largest mayfly hatch I ever knew about fifty years ago.
   The major application of the parachute is for mayfly hatches, but it's also useful for midge hatches. 2004, Ed Engle, Fishing Small Flies, page 118
   Many years the mayfly hatch begins by the time the lake opens in April. Otherwise, expect strong hatches by mid-May. The hatches continue through midsummer. 2007, John Shewey, On the Fly Guide to the Northwest, page 70
5. (informal) A birth, the birth records (in the newspaper).
   hatch, match, and dispatch

Etymology 3

From Middle French hacher (“to chop, slice up, incise with fine lines”), from Old French hacher, hachier, from Frankish *hakōn, *hakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hack”). More at hack.

verb

1. (transitive) To shade an area of (a drawing, diagram, etc.) with fine parallel lines, or with lines which cross each other (cross-hatch).
2. (transitive, obsolete) To cross; to spot; to stain; to steep.