Definition of "blotch"
blotch
noun
plural blotches
An uneven patch of color or discoloration.
Quotations
Since the day in which this reformation began, by how many strange and critical turns has it been perfected and handed down, if not, entirely without spot or wrinkle,—at least, without great blotches or marks of anility.
1768, Laurence Sterne, Sermon VI, The Sermons of Mr. Yorick, volume 3, London: T. Becket & P.A. De Hondt, pages 182–183
Quotations
Microscopic and sometimes macroscopic examination of the apparently healthy intervening tissue may reveal the fungus connecting the blotches of diseased tissue.
1938, Henry Bake Steer, Stumpage Prices of Privately Owned Timber in the United States
(figuratively) Imperfection; blemish on one’s reputation, stain.
Quotations
There never can be equality of rewards or possessions so long as the human plan contains varied talents and differing degrees of industry and thrift, but ours ought to be a country free from the great blotches of distressed poverty.
1921, Warren G. Harding, Inaugural address, in Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States: from George Washington to Barack Obama, Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1989
A bright or dark spot on old film caused by dirt and loss of the gelatin covering the film, due to age and poor film quality.
Quotations
Characteristics of blotches are that they seldom appear at the same spatial location in consecutive frames, they tend to be smooth (little texture), and they usually have intensity values that are very different from the original contents they cover.
1999, Jim Byrnes, Signal Processing for Multimedia, page 173
Films corrupted by blotches are often restored in a two-step approach. The first step detects blotches and generates binary detection masks that indicate whether each pixel is part of a blotch. The second step corrects pixels by means of spatio-temporal interpolation.
2000, A. Hanjalic, G.C. Langelaar, P.M.B. van Roosmalen, Image and Video Databases: Restoration, Watermarking and Retrieval, page 14
verb
third-person singular simple present blotches, present participle blotching, simple past and past participle blotched
(transitive) To mark with blotches.
Quotations
Upon the whole, the spirit and relief of the figures, with the strength of the colouring, render it a most noble picture; and it is not done in the coarse blotching stile, so common to the pieces which pass under the name of Bassan.
1770, Arthur Young, A Six Months Tour through the North of England, London: W. Strahan, Volume 2, p. 258
A straight-edge is placed upon the chalk lines, with the edge next the line slightly raised, and the brush, well filled with colour, drawn along it, just touching the wall, the pressure being never increased, and the brush refilled whenever it is near failing; but great care must be taken that it be not too full, as in that case it will be apt to blotch the line, or drop the colour upon the lower portions of the wall.
1860, W. R. Tymms, chapter 40, in The Art of Illuminating as Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times, London: Day & Son, page 84
(intransitive) To develop blotches, to become blotchy.
Quotations
[…] when a man is going to drive cattle out of the county he has to put a road-brand on them […] It is generally made of letters or figures, or something that won’t cross lines, because where they cross they are apt to blotch and then it’s hard to tell what the brand is and who the animal belongs to.
1878, Arthur Morecamp (pseudonym of Thomas Pilgrim), Live Boys; or, Charley and Nasho in Texas, Boston: Lee & Shepard, Chapter 17, p. 166