patch
Forms
- Plural
- patches
- present (v1)
- patch
- past (v2)
- patched
- past participle (v3)
- patched
- present participle
- patching
- 3rd person singular
- patches
Definitions
1.A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
- His sleeves had patches on the elbows where different fabric had been sewn on to replace material that had worn away.
2.A piece of any size, used to repair something for a temporary period only, or that it is temporary because it is not meant to last long or will be removed as soon as a proper repair can be made, which will happen in the near future.
- Before you can fix a dam, you have to apply a patch to the hole so that everything can dry off.
- "This patch should hold until you reach the city," the mechanic said as he patted the car's hood.
3.A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size)
- Doesn't that patch of clouds looks like a bunny?
- The world economy had a rough patch in the 1930s.
- When ice skating, be sure to stay away from reeds: there are always thin patches of ice there, and you could fall through.
4.A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.
- I can't afford to replace the roof, which is what it really needs. I'll have the roofer apply a patch.
1.To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like.
2.To mend with pieces; to repair by fastening pieces on.
3.To make out of pieces or patches, like a quilt.
- I patched together this quilt.
4.To join or unite the pieces of; to patch the skirt.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3594
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English patche, of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of earlier Middle English placche (“patch, spot, piece of cloth”), from Old English *plæċċ, *pleċċ (“a spot, mark, patch”), from Proto-West Germanic *plakkju, from Proto-Germanic *plakjō (“spot, stain”). For the loss of l compare pat from Middle English platten. Germanic cognates would then include Middle English plecke, dialectal English pleck (“plot of ground, patch”), West Frisian plak (“place, spot”), Low German Plakk, Plakke (“spot, piece, patch”), Dutch plek (“spot, place, stain, patch”), Dutch plak (“piece, slab”), Swedish plagg (“garment”), Faroese plagg (“cloth, rag”).