Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A spot or blot; a splotch.
  • noun A discoloration on the skin; a blemish.
  • noun Any of several plant diseases caused by fungi or bacteria and resulting in brown or black dead areas on leaves or fruit.
  • transitive & intransitive verb To mark or become marked with blotches.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pustule upon the skin.
  • noun A spot of any kind, especially a large irregular spot or blot; hence, anything likened to a mere spot or blot, as a poor painting; a daub.
  • noun A disease of dogs.
  • To mark with blotches; blot, spot, or blur.
  • noun In botany, a disease of fruit or leaves, which cause the formation of spots, usually black in color.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A blot or spot, as of color or of ink; especially a large or irregular spot. Also Fig..
  • noun (Med.) A large pustule, or a coarse eruption.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An uneven patch of color or discoloration.
  • noun An irregularly shaped spot.
  • verb transitive To mark with blotches.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb mark with spots or blotches of different color or shades of color as if stained
  • noun an irregularly shaped spot

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably blend of blot and botch.]

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Examples

  • Her designer should have known that it was a bad choice for a dress to be seen on television and from a distance, though, because from a distance you can't see the subtle gradient that the red -- black creates ... it just looks like a big red blotch, which is why I thought it was ugly.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Buzz 2008

  • The blossoms, mostly white and pinks, are little round tufts that drop petals any time the wind blows, so walking through a 'blotch' can feel like walking through a slow-motion snowstorm when the wind kicks up.

    Cherry Blossoms: savemyseoul 2008

  • "Over on the side there, where there's a kind of blotch, is the twins; they must be fighting.

    The Madigans Miriam Michelson 1906

  • On the night of March 24, 1993, astronomers Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy were searching the skies when they noted an oddly shaped blotch near Jupiter.

    SETI Institute: How to Catch a Comet SETI Institute 2011

  • I am trying to take us to one of the state parks, a big green blotch on my map.

    The Memory Palace Mira Bartók 2011

  • Guston consistently seeks out the least degree of form that distinguishes a meaningless blotch of paint from something that reads as a definable object.

    Art reviews: 'Philip Guston, Roma' and 'David Smith Invents' at the Phillips Philip Kennicott 2011

  • It is a blotch on the canvas of the English rugby club scene.

    Northampton and Ulster bring authentic rugby to plastic surrounds | Eddie Butler 2011

  • On the night of March 24, 1993, astronomers Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy were searching the skies when they noted an oddly shaped blotch near Jupiter.

    SETI Institute: How to Catch a Comet SETI Institute 2011

  • The stencils appear in strange spots, nearly a "Kilroy was here" anarchist blotch on the old city.

    Some Observations.....From Dland 2009

  • But the rendering technique is more suited to the idea of these wine paintings; the relic motif, referencing used coasters and Rorschach's ink blotch tests.

    Amy Bernays: New Technique Amy Bernays 2011

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