I. stitch 1 /stɪtʃ/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: stice 'prick' ]
1 . SEWING [countable] a short piece of thread that has been sewn into a piece of cloth, or the action of the thread going into and out of the cloth
2 . FOR WOUND [countable] a piece of special thread which has been used to sew the edges of a wound together:
He had to have ten stitches in his head.
3 . PAIN [countable usually singular] a sharp pain in the side of your body, which you can get by running or laughing a lot
4 . WITH WOOL [countable] a small circle of wool that is formed around a needle when you are ↑ knitting
drop a stitch (=lose a stitch because the wool has come off the needle)
5 . STYLE [uncountable and countable] a particular way of sewing or ↑ knitting that makes a particular pattern:
Purl and plain are the two main stitches in knitting.
6 . not have a stitch on informal to be wearing no clothes
7 . in stitches laughing a lot in an uncontrollable way
have/keep somebody in stitches (=make someone laugh)
Her jokes had us all in stitches.
8 . a stitch in time (saves nine) spoken used to say that it is better to deal with problems early than to wait until they get worse
II. stitch 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
to sew two pieces of cloth together, or to sew a decoration onto a piece of cloth:
Mary is stitching a bedspread.
stitch something onto/across something
The jersey has his name stitched across the back.
stitch something ↔ together phrasal verb American English
1 . to put different things or parts of something together to make one larger thing:
In ten years, they have been able to stitch together a national network of banks.
2 . to get a deal or agreement arranged
stitch somebody/something ↔ up phrasal verb
1 . to put stitches in cloth or a wound in order to fasten parts of it together:
She stitched up the cut and left it to heal.
2 . to get a deal or agreement completed satisfactorily so that it cannot be changed:
The deal was stitched up in minutes.
3 . British English informal to deceive someone, especially in order to gain money from them
4 . British English informal to make someone seem guilty of a crime by providing false information SYN frame