n. A half-door, or a door with an opening over it; a grated or latticed door or gate; a wicket.n. A grate or frame of cross-bars laid over an opening in a ship's deck; hence, any cover of an opening in a ship's deck.n. An opening, generally rectangular, in a ship's deck, for taking in or discharging the cargo, or for affording a passage into the interior of the ship; a hatchway.n. Hence Any similar opening, as in the floor of a building, or a cover placed over it.n. An opening made in a mine, or made in searching for a mine.n. A rack for hay.n. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.n. A bedstead.n. A hollow trap to catch weasels and other animals.n. Under close confinement; in servitude.To close with or as with a hatch.To cause to develop in and emerge from (an egg) by incubation or other natural process, or by artificial heat; cause the developed young to emerge from (an egg).To contrive or plot, especially secretly; form by meditation, and bring into being; originate and produce: as, to hatch mischief; to hatch heresy.To be hatched, as the eggs of birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, etc.: as, the eggs hatch in two weeks, in the water, under ground, etc.To come forth from or out of the egg: as, the chicks hatch naked in ten days.n. A brood; as many young birds as are produced at one time, or by one incubation.n. The number of eggs incubated at one time; a clutch.n. The act of hatching; also, that which is hatched, in either sense of that word.To chase; engrave; mark with cuts or lines.Specifically, in drawing, engraving, etc., to shade by means of lines; especially, to shade with lines crossing one another. See hatching and cross-hatching.To lay in small and numerous bands upon a ground of different material: as, laces of silver hatched on a satin ground.n. A shading line in drawing or engraving.