etches

Verb

etch (third-person singular simple present etches, present participle etching, simple past and past participle etched)

1. To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.
2. To engrave a surface.
3. (figuratively) To make a lasting impression.
   • The memory of 9/11 is etched into my mind.
4. To sketch; to delineate.
   • There are many such empty terms to be found in some learned writers, to which they had recourse to etch out their system.a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC