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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†KEYTCH, v., n. Also ke(i)tch, keach, kietch, ky(t)ch, and, by confusion with Kilch, keiltch. [kəitʃ, kɛtʃ]

I. v. To pitch, toss, to toss to and fro (Sc. 1808 Jam.); to jerk, jog with the elbow; to heave or hitch up, as a load on the back (Slk. 1825 Jam.); to overturn, upset (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).Sc. 1722 Ramsay Poems (1877) II. 379:
May I be jyb'd by great an' sma', And kytch'd like ony tennis-ba'.Sc. 1792 “Juvenis Scoticus” Melpomene 50:
To keitch awa' the drumly mud, An' skum the fro' aff life's wild flood.Peb. 1793 R. Brown Carlop Green (1817) 175:
[She] prances Jock 'maist aff her back, Kytch'd till her fits subside.Sc. 1812 The Scotchman 47:
Ilka chiel kycht the broken piece [of cake] scornfulie out o his gate, an walet a hale ane.Abd. 1861 J. Grant Legends of Mar 226:
Get doon aff the beast, ye auld deevil, or I'll ketch ye into the midden.Ayr. a.1875 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage (1892) 188:
Kytching his pack, our Troker said . . .

II. n. A toss, jerk, heave; an upward shove, hitch up (Cld. 1880 Jam.).Sc. 1736 Pilulae Spleneticae 14:
Like a cow, who lets down her milk plentifully till near the hinder end and then with a ketch of her foot overturns the cog.Ayr. 18th c. Merry Muses (1911) 132:
It's weel ken'd that at her gyvil, Ye hae gi'en mony a kytch and kyvil.Sc. 1824 Hogg Justified Sinner (1874) 507:
One ketch with thy foot, or toss with thy finger, shall throw him from thy sight into the foldings of the cloud.Sc. 1844 Sc. Ballads (Whitelaw 1874) 36:
And every auld wife that's sae jealous o' her dochter, May she get a good keach i' the creel.m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 22: 
He gied his feet a great kick oot, an' his back a kietch up, an' sent the wean into the barrel.Slk. 1875 Border Treasury (1 May) 453:
Aw b'leeve ye've gien me some unco ketches, callants! Ye sud mind fock canna stand sic ruggin' aboot after they turn auld.