welch

English

Etymology

Alternative form of welsh, from Welsh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛlt͡ʃ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛltʃ

Noun

welch (plural welches)

1. A person who defaults on an obligation, especially a small one.

   She's a welch. That watering-can isn't hers: I lent it to her three years ago.

Verb

welch (third-person singular simple present welches, present participle welching, simple past and past participle welched)

1. To fail to repay a small debt.
2. To fail to fulfill an obligation.
   • 1992, Bo Goldman, Scent of a Woman (film)

     I welched. I'm a welcher. Didn't I tell you?

   • 1973, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II (screenplay, second draft)

     MICHAEL: Clemenza promised Rosato three territories in the Bronx after he died, and then you took over and welched.

Derived terms

• welcher

Translations

German

Alternative forms

• welch'

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛlç/

• Audio

  (file)

Determiner

welch

1. (only preceding ein or an adjective, emphatic) what

   Welch ein Glück! ― How fortunate! (literally, “What a luck!”)

   • 1911, Erwin Rosen [pseudonym; Erwin Carlé], Der Deutsche Lausbub in Amerika [The German prankster in America], page 255:

     Welch' ein Esel Bruder Leichtfuß doch war—welch' ein unbeschreiblich törichter dickköpfiger Junge!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1956, Ernst Bloch, Das Prinzip Hoffnung, volume 3, Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, page 304:

     In der Tat, welch ein Weg, welch ein Vergessen und Aufhellen von dem unheimlichen eulenartigen Wesen, das ums Erechtheion geistert, bis zur Pallas Athene Homers.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

• Many speakers consider welch very formal or poetic and may use was für instead.

Synonyms

• was für

Related terms

• welcher

Further reading

• “welch ein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache