Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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

         'T were not amiss to keep our door hatched. --Shak.

Source : WordNet®

hatch
     n 1: the production of young from an egg [syn: {hatching}]
     2: shading consisting of multiple crossing lines [syn: {hatching},
         {crosshatch}, {hachure}]
     3: a movable barrier covering a hatchway
     v 1: emerge from the eggs; "young birds, fish, and reptiles
          hatch"
     2: devise or invent; "He thought up a plan to get rich
        quickly"; "no-one had ever thought of such a clever piece
        of software" [syn: {think up}, {think of}, {dream up}, {concoct}]
     3: inlay with narrow strips or lines of a different substance
        such as gold or silver, for the purpose of decorating
     4: draw, cut, or engrave lines, usually parallel, on metal,
        wood, or paper; "hatch the sheet"
     5: sit on (eggs); "Birds brood"; "The female covers the eggs"
        [syn: {brood}, {cover}, {incubate}]