scotch
v.to stop or reduce something, especially a plan or an amount of money. You use this when you want to say you are cutting back on costs or cancelling a project.
v.to curtail, reduce, or discontinue; often used in the context of limiting expenditure or scaling back operations. Typically transitive.
“The company decided to scotch the new marketing plan.”
“The manager had to scotch the budget for the holiday party to save money.”
“The sudden drop in consumer confidence forced the board to scotch their ambitious expansion plans for the coming fiscal year.”
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object.
“Organiser Emily Eavis scotched rumours that Madonna would play, saying: “No, it’s definitely not Madonna, I’ll tell you that.”
Contraction of Scottish. The chess opening is supposedly after its having been played in a correspondence game between Edinburgh, Scotland, and London, England.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.