stitch
/stɪt͡ʃ/ noun, verb
Forms stitches stitching stitched stich
- noun (countable) A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.
- noun (medicine) A single pass of a surgical suture (to sew the edges of a wound together) “I cut myself badly while cooking and needed to go to hospital to get stitches.”
- noun An arrangement of stitches in sewing, or method of stitching in some particular way or style. “cross stitch”
- noun (countable and uncountable) An intense stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage, brought on by exercise or laughing. “I've got a stitch. I'm going to have to stop and rest.”
- noun A local sharp pain (anywhere); an acute pain, like the piercing of a needle. “a stitch in the side”
- noun A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link, or loop, of yarn “drop a stitch”
- noun An arrangement of stitches in knitting, or method of knitting in some particular way or style.
- noun A space of work taken up, or gone over, in a single pass of the needle.
- verb To form stitches in; especially, to sew in such a manner as to show on the surface a continuous line of stitches. “to stitch a shirt bosom.”
- verb To sew, or unite or attach by stitches. “to stitch printed sheets in making a book or a pamphlet.”
- verb (intransitive) To practice/practise stitching or needlework.
- verb (agriculture) To form land into ridges.
- verb To weld together through a series of connecting or overlapping spot welds.
- verb To include, combine, or unite into a single whole.
- verb (computer graphics) To combine two or more photographs of the same scene into a single image. “I can use this software to stitch together a panorama.”
- verb (TikTok) To incorporate (an existing video) into a new one, resulting in a collaborative clip that shows the two videos in a sequence.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English stiche, from Old English stiċe (“a prick, puncture, stab, thrust with a pointed implement, pricking sensation, stitch, pain in the side, sting”), from Proto-West Germanic *stiki, from Proto-Germanic *stikiz (“prick, piercing, stitch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to stab, pierce”).
Cognate with Dutch steek (“prick, stitch”), German Stich (“a prick, piercing, stitch”), Old English stician (“to stick, stab, pierce, prick”). More at stick. Via PIE cognate with Czech steh, Polish ścieg, Russian стежо́к (stežók).
From Middle English sticchen, stichen, from Old English *stiċċan, stiċċian, from Proto-Germanic *stikjaną (“to stab, stick, prick”), influenced by the noun (see above).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.
- noun A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link, or loop, of yarn; as, to let down, or drop, a stitch; to take up a stitch.
- verb To form stitches in; especially, to sew in such a manner as to show on the surface a continuous line of stitches; as, to stitch a shirt bosom.
- verb To sew, or unite together by stitches; as, to stitch printed sheets in making a book or a pamphlet.
Etymology [OE. stiche, AS. stice a pricking, akin to stician to prick. See Stick, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stitch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details