patch

pronunciation

How to pronounce patch in British English: UK [pætʃ] word uk audio image

How to pronounce patch in American English: US [pætʃ] word us audio image

Noun:

a small contrasting part of something
a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation
a piece of cloth used as decoration or to mend or cover a hole
a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition
a short set of commands to correct a bug in a computer program
a connection intended to be used for a limited time
sewing or darning that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment)
a protective cloth covering for an injured eye
a piece of soft material that covers and protects an injured part of the body
Verb:

to join or unite the pieces of
provide with a patch; also used metaphorically
mend by putting a patch on
repair by adding pieces

Word Origin

patch (v.): mid-15c., from patch (n.1). Electronics sense of "to connect temporarily" is attested from 1923. Related: Patched; patching.

patch (n.1): "piece of cloth used to mend another material," late 14c., of obscure origin, perhaps a variant of pece, pieche, from Old North French pieche (see piece (n.)), or from an unrecorded Old English word (but Old English had claðflyhte "a patch"). Phrase not a patch on "nowhere near as good as" is from 1860.

patch (n.2): "fool, clown," 1540s, perhaps from Italian pazzo "fool," of unknown origin. Possibly from Old High German barzjan "to rave" [Klein]. But Buck says pazzo is originally euphemistic, and from Latin patiens "suffering," in medical use, "the patient." Form perhaps influenced by folk etymology derivation from patch (n.1), on notion of a fool's patched garb.

vt.

3. At heart , this is a struggle of two peoples for the same patch of land .

4. They applied a strict statistical test which found that the patch plus the lozenge worked best compared with placebo .