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.
The phrase 'scotch the rumor' has nothing to do with Scotland or whisky - it originally meant to wound or disable something, like putting a scotch (wedge) under a wheel to stop it rolling. Shakespeare used this sense in Macbeth when Lady Macbeth says they have 'scotched the snake, not killed it.'
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