Etch \Etch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Etched; p. pr. & vb. n. Etching.]

[D. etsen, G. ["a]tzen to feed, corrode, etch. MHG. etzen, causative of ezzen to eat, G. essen ??. See Eat.]

1. To produce, as figures or designs, on mental, glass, or the like, by means of lines or strokes eaten in or corroded by means of some strong acid.

Note: The plate is first covered with varnish, or some other ground capable of resisting the acid, and this is then scored or scratched with a needle, or similar instrument, so as to form the drawing; the plate is then covered with acid, which corrodes the metal in the lines thus laid bare.

2. To subject to etching; to draw upon and bite with acid, as a plate of metal.

I was etching a plate at the beginning of 1875. --Hamerton.

3. To sketch; to delineate. [R.]

There are many empty terms to be found in some learned writes, to which they had recourse to etch out their system. --Locke.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)