chicken scratch

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

chicken scratch (countable and uncountable, plural chicken scratches)

1. Chicken feed consisting of random mixed grains such as corn, wheat, barley, sorghum and milling by-products.
   • 2008, Richard Dwight Apgar, Tough Shit, Eliot: A Yank's Tale, Dorrance Publishing (→ISBN), page 1:

     A soft odor of chicken scratch, mash, and manure always permeated the air when you approached. Attached to the chicken coop was a smokehouse that contained several smoked ham shoulders hanging from hooks.

2. (informal, idiomatic) Cramped or illegible handwriting.

   Synonym: scrawl

   • 2014, A. Meredith Walters, Light in the Shadows, Simon and Schuster (→ISBN), page 25:

     The pencil in my hand was limp between my fingers and I couldn't focus on the chicken scratch on the pages. My breathing had become shallow and my heart was racing. I was in the midst of a full-blown panic attack.

3. A type of cross-stitch embroidery done on gingham fabric.

   Synonym: Amish embroidery