As a verb, to put an end to or decisively stop something. As a noun, refers to Scotch whisky, a distilled alcoholic beverage made in Scotland.
The verb comes from Anglo-French escocher meaning 'to notch,' from escoche 'notch.' The noun meaning whisky is simply from 'Scottish,' first recorded in the 1880s. The verb evolved from the idea of making notches to disable something, like scotching a wheel.
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