tetched

English

Alternative forms

• teched

Etymology

Variant of touched.

Adjective

tetched (comparative more tetched, superlative most tetched)

1. (chiefly US, colloquial) Touched: mildly deranged, somewhat mentally dysfunctional.
   • 1889, Laura E. Richards, chapter 9, in Queen Hildegarde:

     "His mind was as keen as a razor, an' as straight-edged, 'xcept jest on one subject. On that he was, so to say, a little—wal—a little tetched."

   • 1959 April 21, Ann Landers, "Oh Why Can't He See 'Dawn's Early Light'?, St. Petersburg Times (USA) (retrieved 26 June 2012):

     Just because he has trouble with the last verse of the Star Spangled Banner doesn't mean he's tetched. Maybe he has a mental block because you've been hammering him over the skull for three years about it.

   • 1982 Sep. 27, Mary Cantwell, "Books Of The Times" (review of Goosefoot by Patrick McGinley), New York Times (retrieved 26 June 2012):

     There's a murderer about, but how can you spot him when everyone is moon-tetched?

2. (chiefly US, colloquial) Touched: physically contacted, impacted, or handled.
   • 1899, Bret Harte, “Dick Spindler's Family Christmas”, in Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other Stories:

     "They ain't bin tetched or handled by any one but the Kempany's agents."

   • c. 1900, O. Henry, The Reformation Of Calliope:

     "That bullet never tetched ye!"

Synonyms

• (mildly deranged): touched in the head

Derived terms

• tetched in the haid
• tetched in the head

 

References

• “tetched”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.