tetch

present singular third person tetches · participle present tetching · participle past tetched · past tetched

1. pronunciation spellingregionalPronunciation spelling of touch.

   "Wal, I sot there, eatin' away, and, the fust thing I knowed, I kind 'er felt suthin' tetch my shoulder.

   1877, Samuel Woodworth Cozzens, The Young Trail Hunters

   2 more examples

   The minute we'd tetch off a blast 'n' the fuse'd begin to sizzle, he'd give a look as much as to say: 'Well, I'll have to git you to excuse me,' an' it was surpris'n' the way he'd shin out of that hole 'n' go f'r a tree.

   1880, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Roughing It

   "Miss Lucy tetch you on de shoulder," continued the old man, never heeding, "wid a s'ord, and say: 'I mek you a knight, Suh Robert--rise up, pure and fearless and widout reproach.'

   1919, O. Henry, Roads of Destiny

plural tetches

1. pronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of touch.

   The three songs I've heard so far are low-key and restrained, with a tetch of honky-tonk tension--the sound of a heart being bounced up and down like a squishy yo-yo.

   2001 November 2, Monica Kendrick, “Spot Check”, in Chicago Reader