- handwriting of words or symbols that is too messy or roughly drawn to be easily read:They need precise specs for the remodeling, but these drawings and dimensions are just chicken scratch.Milo left us a note, but can anyone figure out his chicken scratch?
- a scratchlike mark, often an element of illegible writing:I had no idea these chicken-scratches were actually the artist’s signature.That chicken scratch was accidentally made by a utility knife when she was scoring a piece of leather.
- supplemental, relatively inexpensive food for chickens, typically cracked corn and grains scattered on the ground for the chickens to scratch through as they eat it.
- something of minimal or deficient value, such as an amount of money that is far less than what would be considered reasonable:It’s an exposé of those laboring under atrocious conditions for chicken scratch.
- to handwrite (something) in a manner that is too messy to be easily read:I start out being neat with my note-taking, but then I lapse into chicken-scratching everything the teacher says.
- to produce handwriting that is too messy to be easily read:She chicken-scratches like that on purpose so nobody can read it.Sometimes you wanna do calligraphy, sometimes you wanna chicken scratch.
