I. ˈpach noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English pacche, perhaps from Middle French pece, piece, pieche piece — more at piece
1. : a piece used to mend or cover a hole, rent, or breach or to reinforce or protect a weak spot
wore a dirty … sweater with leather elbow patches — W.B.Marsh
especially : a piece of cloth used to repair or reinforce fabric that is torn or worn
2. : a tiny decorative piece of black silk or court plaster worn on the face or neck especially by women to hide a blemish or to heighten beauty by contrast
3.
a. : a piece of adhesive plaster or other cover applied to a wound
b. : a shield (as of cloth) worn over an injured eye
4.
a. : a small piece : bit , scrap
on all sides are small patches of level ground, but nowhere is there a plain — Kenneth Roberts
slept in patches, cold and uncomfortable — A.P.Herbert
the kind of book which in patches has real interest — H.J.Laski
b. : a spot of color different from that around it
a patch of white is noticeable on his dog's head
c. : a small piece of ground distinct from that about it (as in appearance or in the vegetation it bears)
cabbage patch
patches of bare earth
d. : a constricted area of land occupied by mean or impoverished dwellings or farms
5. : an ornament, badge, or tab of cloth sewed on a garment ; especially : an emblem worn at the shoulder of a military uniform to show the unit to which a serviceman belongs
wears the Third Army patch — Westinghouse Magazine
6.
a. : an irregular small mass of floating cakes of ice
b. : a herd of seals
7.
a. : a piece of greased or moistened cloth formerly used as wadding for a rifle ball
b. : a small piece of cotton cloth used for cleaning the bore of small arms
c. : the hard metal covering over the lead core of jacketed bullets
8. : a circumscribed region (as on the skin or in a section from an organ) differing especially in color or composition from the tissue normal for that part
9.
a. : overlay 2d
b. : a replacement of part of a printing plate (as an electrotype)
a 3-line patch
10. : someone or something equal or comparable — usually used in negative constructions
what the advocates of economic nationalism had accomplished was not a patch on what they planned — Time
those headlines don't make a patch against the ones on the front pages — Newsweek
11. : a temporary connection in a communication system (as a telephone or broadcasting hookup)
12. chiefly Britain : period , spell
it is not as though we now had large reserves to tide us over a difficult patch — Donald MacDougall
poetry is going through a bad patch — Cyril Connolly
13. : a circus lawyer : fixer
if the patch says you can rip and tear, you can go the limit on anything — D.W.Maurer
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
1. : to mend, cover, or fill up a hole, rent, breach, or weak spot in : apply a patch to
caulked her deck seams, slushed her rigging, and patched her sails — Kenneth Roberts
was trying to get all the fences near the house patched — Ellen Glasgow
2. : to provide with a patch or patches
neat clearings patching the sides of the mountains — Slim Aarons
went patched and darned and shamefaced through the village streets
3.
a. : to make of patches, scraps, or fragments
they possessed only suspicions … but out of these they succeeded in patching together a mosaic — Louis Bromfield
b. : to mend, repair, or put together especially in hasty, insecure, or shabby fashion — usually used with up
was busy patching up that political disaster — J.P.O'Donnell
relations between the two men had to be patched up repeatedly — Ishbel Ross
sometimes offer a gift, with a view to patching up a quarrel — W.F.Hambly
has been since diverted to patch up the 118-year-old penal slum — Frank O'Leary
4. : to apply as a patch
patched new cloth to the old coat until it seemed mere patchwork
5. : to cover (a bullet) with a patch
Synonyms: see mend
III. noun
( -es )
Etymology: perhaps by folk etymology from Italian dialect (southern Italy) paccio fool
1. : a domestic fool or jester
2. : clown , dolt , ninny
3. chiefly dialect : crosspatch
IV. noun
1. : a minor usually temporary correction or modification in a computer program
2. Britain : beat 7a
3. : a usually disc-shaped piece of material that is worn on the skin and contains a substance (as a drug) that is absorbed at a constant rate through the skin into the bloodstream
a nitroglycerin patch
V. transitive verb
1. : to make a patch in (a computer program)
2. : to connect (as circuits) by a patch cord