PATCH


Meaning of PATCH in English

/ pætʃ; NAmE / noun , verb

■ noun

SMALL AREA

1.

a small area of sth, especially one which is different from the area around it :

a black dog with a white patch on its back

a bald patch on the top of his head

damp patches on the wall

patches of dense fog

PIECE OF MATERIAL

2.

a small piece of material that is used to cover a hole in sth or to make a weak area stronger, or as decoration :

I sewed patches on the knees of my jeans.

3.

a piece of material that you wear over an eye, usually because the eye is damaged :

He had a black patch over one eye.

—see also eyepatch

4.

( NAmE ) = badge (2)

5.

a piece of material that people can wear on their skin to help them to stop smoking :

nicotine patches

PIECE / AREA OF LAND

6.

a small piece of land, especially one used for growing vegetables or fruit :

a vegetable patch

—picture at house

7.

( BrE , informal ) an area that sb works in, knows well or comes from :

He knows every house in his patch.

She has had a lot of success in her home patch .

DIFFICULT TIME

8.

( informal , especially BrE ) a period of time of the type mentioned, usually a difficult or unhappy one :

to go through a bad / difficult / sticky patch

—see also purple patch

IN COMPUTING

9.

a small piece of code (= instructions that a computer can understand) which can be added to a computer program to improve it or to correct a fault :

Follow the instructions below to download and install the patch.

IDIOMS

- be not a patch on sb/sth

■ verb

[ vn ] patch sth (with sth) to cover a hole or a worn place, especially in clothes, with a piece of cloth or other material

SYN mend :

patched jeans

to patch a hole in the roof

PHRASAL VERBS

- patch sb/sth through (to sb/sth)

- patch sth together

- patch sth/sb up

••

WORD ORIGIN

late Middle English : perhaps from a variant of Old French pieche , dialect variant of piece piece.

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.