\Hatch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Hatched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Hatching}.] [F. hacher to chop, hack. See {Hash}.]
1. To cross with lines in a peculiar manner in drawing and
   engraving. See {Hatching}.
         Shall win this sword, silvered and hatched.
                                               --Chapman.
         Those hatching strokes of the pencil. --Dryden.
2. To cross; to spot; to stain; to steep. [Obs.]
         His weapon hatched in blood.          --Beau. & Fl.

\Hatch\, v. t. [OE. hacchen, hetchen; akin to G. hecken,
Dan. hekke; cf. MHG. hagen bull; perh. akin to E. hatch a
half door, and orig. meaning, to produce under a hatch. ???.]
1. To produce, as young, from an egg or eggs by incubation,
   or by artificial heat; to produce young from (eggs); as,
   the young when hatched. --Paley.
         As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them
         not.                                  --Jer. xvii.
                                               11.
         For the hens do not sit upon the eggs; but by
         keeping them in a certain equal heat they [the
         husbandmen] bring life into them and hatch them.
                                               --Robynson
                                               (More's
                                               Utopia).
2. To contrive or plot; to form by meditation, and bring into
   being; to originate and produce; to concoct; as, to hatch
   mischief; to hatch heresy. --Hooker.
         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. h[ae]c, cf. haca the bar of a
door, D. hek gate, Sw. h["a]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 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.