| 释义 |
▪ I. patch, n.1|pætʃ|
Forms: 4 pacche, 4–6 patche, 5 pahche, pacch, 5–6 pache, pachch(e, 6– patch.
[ME. pacche, patche, of unascertained origin. If native, its OE. form would be *pæcce.
Some have conjectured an earlier *platche, with subsequent loss of l, comparing mod.Sc. platch, q.v., but for this there is no evidence. Ger. dial. patsche puddle, mire, ‘mess’, also instrument of striking, hand, patschen to splash, dabble, dash, clap, tap, suits the form but not the sense.]
1. a. A piece of cloth, leather, wood, metal, or other material put or fastened on to mend a hole or rent in something, or to strengthen a weak place.
1382Wyclif Mark ii. 21 No man seweth a pacche [1388 patche] of rude..clothe to an old clothe. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17172 A garnement..Wych she werede vp-on hyr bak: Gret noumbre ther-on I tolde Off cloutys and off pachchys olde. 1481in Eng. Gilds (1870) 320 A brasen krocke of ij galons and more, a pache clowted in the brem wt laten. 1595Shakes. John iv. ii. 32 As patches set vpon a little breach, Discredite more..Then did the fault before it was so patch'd. 1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 294 A foul coat full of patches. 1787Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 152 The hole and the patch should be commensurate. 1875Helps Ess., Pract. Wisd. 6 To prefer a good open visible rent to a time-serving patch. 1898Sun 23 Mar. 4/1 The ‘patch’ included in the ‘ordinary [bicycle] outfit’ is by no means large enough for an ordinary burst.
b. A piece of court-plaster or the like put over a wound or scar.
1591Lodge Catharos (Hunter. Cl.) 6 Better to weare patches on my cloake, than to beare the patch on my head. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. i. 93 Patches will I get vnto these cudgeld scarres. 1875Hazlitt Dodsley's Plays XI. 140 note, Feesimple alludes also to the patch on the face of Tearchaps.
c. A pad or piece of cloth worn to protect an injured eye.
1598Chapman Blind Beggar Wks. 1873 I. 10 Though he..want an eye, Wearing a veluet patch upon the same. 1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3847/4 [He] had a Patch on his right Eye. 1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Fire & Ale ix, Over the horse's left eye was a patch, To keep it from burning the manger. a1901Besant Five Years' Tryst, etc. (1902) 221 You can change your face,..put a patch over one eye.
d. A piece of cloth sewn upon a garment as an ornament, badge, etc.
1898Daily News 22 Oct. 6/3 Spots..such as black silk on scarlet velvet, black or coffee-brown on blue, pale blue on green... These ‘patches’ are now the very height of the fashion. 1900Ibid. 22 Aug. 5/1 One juvenile wearer of the ‘patch’, belonging to H.M.S. Aurora, was in the thick of the fire carrying messages to and fro. 1912‘Aurora’ Jock Scott i. 4 He passed out of the Britannia a midshipman and was wearing his patches the day he left... Naval cadets wear a little bit of white twist on their coat collars, while a full-blown midshipman has a patch of white cloth about two inches square instead. 1970N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon v. 107 John Young's wife..designed a handsome red Roman numeral X for the patch he and Mike Collins wore on Gemini 10. 1974R. B. Parker Godwulf Manuscript i. 8 A fatigue jacket with a staff sergeant's stripes, a Seventh Division patch.
e. not a patch on (colloq.), in no way comparable to, nowhere near.
1860Reade Cloister & H. xxxvii, He is not a patch on you for looks. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am xii. 85 A fine handsome-looking young man,..but not a patch upon his father. 1880Sat. Rev. 18 Dec. 779 The adventures with savages..and so on, are, to speak familiarly, not a patch upon the adventures which Captain Mayne Reid would have made out of the same materials. 1889Westm. Gaz. 20 Feb. 10/1 We have some strange weather in England..but it is doubtful whether we are a patch upon Australia. On December 6 the thermometer in many places there fell over 40 deg. within six hours.
2. A small piece of black silk or court-plaster, often of fanciful shape, worn on the face either to hide a fault, or, more usually, to show off the complexion by contrast. (Fashionable, esp. among women, in 17th and 18th centuries; cf. patch-box.)
1592Lyly Midas iii. ii, Licio. Take Masticke else. Pet. Mastick's a patch. Masticke does many a foole's face catch. 1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. v. 220 Blacke patches are worne, Some for pride, some to stay the Rhewme, and Some to hide the scab. 1611Cotgr., Moucheron,..the little blacke patch thats glued by Masticke, etc., on the faces of many. a1625Fletcher Elder Bro. iii. v, Your black patches you wear variously, Some cut like stars, some in half moons, some lozenges. c1706Prior Phillis's Age 6 Her patches, paint, and jewels on. 1715Lady M. W. Montagu Town Ecl., Saturday 49 Hours..pass'd in deep debate, How curls should fall, or where a patch to place. 1876J. R. Planché Cycl. Costume I. 388. 1897 Rhoscomyl White Rose Arno 23 The patch that lent piquancy to the cheek of beauty.
3. a. A portion of any surface markedly different in appearance or character from what is around it; a large or irregular spot.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 118 Reward not thy sheepe (when ye take off his cote) With twitchis and patches, as brode as a grote. 1701Lond. Gaz. No. 3745/4 A Patch near the Flank on the near Side [on a horse]. 1810Edin. Rev. XVII. 196 Those detached and unmeaning patches of different colours, which compose what opticians call an anamorphosis. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life ii. i. (1875) 50 The sky will not come right..it is all spots and patches. 1894Newton Dict. Birds 818 The Surf-Duck..with a white patch on the crown and another on the nape.
b. A small piece or area of undefined shape, of ground, or of anything lying or growing on it.
1577Harrison England ii. iv. (1877) i. 98 In..Buckinghamshire..there is a piece of Hartfordshire..this patch is not aboue three miles in length, and two in breadth. 1602Shakes. Ham. iv. iv. 18 We go to gain a little patch of ground That hath in it no profit but the name. 1684Contempl. St. Man ii. iii. (1699) 154 Why doth he content himself with some patch of the Earth, when he may be Lord of the whole Heavens? 1742Shenstone Schoolmistress v, A patch so green, On which the tribe their gambols do display. 1807Wordsw. Wh. Doe Ryl. iv. 66 Like a patch of April snow. 1847Grote Greece ii. xxvi. IV. 35 Patches of cultivable soil. 1894Howells Trav. fr. Altruria 103 The chief crop was hay, with here and there a patch of potatoes or beans.
c. An area of floating pieces of ice, joining and overlapping one another, of more or less circular or polygonal form.
1817Scoresby Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 531/1 If it assume a circular or polygonal form, the name of patch is applied. 1820Ibid. ii. 1324 A patch is a collection of drift or bay-ice of a circular or polygonal form. In point of magnitude, a pack corresponds with a field, and a patch with a floe. 1850Natural Phenomena 106 If the field [of ice] is broken up into a number of pieces, none of which are more than forty or fifty yards across, the whole is called a pack; if the pieces are broad they are called a patch; and when long and narrow a stream.
d. Anat. and Path. A small well-defined area of the skin, etc. distinct in colour or appearance.
Peyer's patches, Peyerian patches, the agminate glands in the small intestine.
1797Monthly Mag. III. 153 In other cases, there are many circular gangrenous patches, on the surface of the intestines. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 132 As the patch expands, the centre of it gradually assumes the natural colour of the skin. 1849–52Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 839/1 Each Peyerian patch consists of but a single layer of gland-vesicles. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 226 It undergoes a process of division whereby it is converted into the embryonic patch or cicatricula. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 296 A patch of softening was found in each hemisphere.
e. The area which is assigned to a policeman as his responsibility; a policeman's ‘beat’. Also transf.
1963T.V. Times (Austral.) 18 Apr. 10/2 Patch, a police area: as in ‘It's on my patch’. 1965‘W. Haggard’ Hard Sell xii. 126 I'm a foreign official on another man's patch. I'm quite without standing. 1965J. Wainwright Death in Sleeping City ii. 123 My patch in the city. I'm not like you—a county officer. 1969D. Devine Death is my Bridegroom xi. 113 Smith was from the south and had never before turned up in Christie's patch. 1975J. Symons Three Pipe Problem xvi. 157 Either he gets off your patch or he finds his reputation as an art dealer ruined.
4. A piece of cloth sewed together with others of varying shape, size, and colour to form patchwork or to adorn a garment.
a1529Skelton Bowge of Courte 358 His cote was checked with patches rede and blewe. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 424 The other two..had as it were sowed together certen fragmentes and patches. 1628Earle Microcosm., Pot-poet (Arb.) 45 His Verses are like his clothes, miserable Cento's and patches. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iv. xix. (1695) 400 A pie-bald Livery of coarse Patches and borrowed Shreds.
5. a. A small scrap, piece, or remnant of anything.
a1529Skelton Replyc. 3 A lytell ragge of rethorike..A pece or a patche of philosophy. 1579Fulke Heskins's Parl. 81 They reade but patches out of other mens notes. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 102 A King of shreds and patches. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 9 And fills up the time with..some..patch of poetry. 1782F. Burney Lett., to Mrs. Thrale Apr., This letter is written by scraps and patches. 1835Arnold Let. in Stanley Life & Corr. (1845) I. 435 Much of ancient history consists apparently of patches put together..without any redaction.
b. transf. With qualifying adj.: a period of time with a particular characteristic.
1926Wodehouse Heart of Goof i. 32 How like life it all was!.. We strike a good patch and are beginning to think pretty well of ourselves, and along comes a George Parsloe. 1928Daily Express 6 July 9/3 He dreaded to think what would happen to Kent if those players had a month's bad patch. 1958Daily Sketch 2 June 12/4 A friend helps you over a sticky patch in the afternoon. 1974I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 213 If there were bad patches I've simply forgotten them. 1976J. M. Brownjohn tr. Kirst's Time for Payment v. 114 All new businesses go through a sticky patch, but it's only temporary.
6. Applied to various things suggesting a patch (sense 1) in the way they are fastened, or in shape or size, or otherwise:
a. The operculum of a periwinkle;
b. A greased piece of cloth, leather, or other material used as the wadding for a rifle-ball;
c. ‘A projection on the top of the muzzle in some guns, doing away with the effect of dispart in laying’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867);
d. Printing: A piece of thin paper used to fill up low places in the impression; = overlay n. 2;
e. ‘A small square of thick leather sometimes used in the grinding of small tools to press the work on the stone, in order to protect the fingers from abrasion’ (Cent. Dict. 1890);
f. A temporary electrical connection. Usu. attrib. (see patch bay, etc., in sense 8).
1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. ix. 279 We find the mouth of its [periwinkle's] shell closed by a horny organ called the patch. 1835–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 439 Something that will go down the throat like a greased patch down a smooth rifle. 1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 375 The use of patches..on the score of protecting the ball, and also cleansing the tube. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 93/2 [These] contained balls and patches, two sharp clasp-knives, a compass, flint and steel. 1923Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. II. 123 A temporary [telephone] connection made in this manner..is called a ‘patch’. 1937Printers' Ink Monthly May 40/1 Patch, a temporary and removable connection on studio equipment. 1977R. L. Duncan Temple Dogs (1978) ii. 259 He just called computer, requested a patch on the Metro interface. He wants to know what the Tokyo police have picked up.
7. patch-up [f. the phrase to patch up: see patch v.] An act of patching up, or repairing in an imperfect fashion. Also as adj.
1819Metropolis III. 178 He is returned from a patch up abroad. 1898Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 1/3 We must avoid any speedy patch-up which would bring us to another letter of resignation twelve months hence. 1901Miss E. Hobhouse ibid. 19 June 9/1 It is all only a miserable patch-up on a great ill. 1904Westm. Gaz. 30 Sept. 2/1 The kind of patch-up policy which he would accept for the next election. 1971‘H. Calvin’ Poison Chasers v. 74 There may be some value in a patch-up operation. 1974P. Flower Odd Job ii. 16 His patch-up jobs on furniture.
8. attrib. and Comb.: patch bay, an area in an analogue computer that receives one or more removable patch-boards; patch-board, a plug-board, esp. one in an analogue computer or similar device; † patch-coat, a patched coat; patch cord, an insulated lead with a plug at each end, used for making connections between the sockets of a patch-board or different pieces of electronic apparatus; patch fox, a North American red fox, Vulpes Fulva, in its yellowish colour phase, or the skin of such an animal; = cross-fox; † patch-grease: see quot.; patch-ice, pieces of ice overlapping so as to form a patch (Webster 1864); patch lead = patch cord above; patch-leather, leather used in patching; patch-ornament, an ornament resembling a patch in shape or otherwise; patch panel n.2 = patch-board above; (cf. patch-panel n. and a.); patch-plug = patch cord above; patch pocket, a pocket consisting of a piece of cloth sewn on like a patch; patch-polled a., having a patch of colour on the head, esp. in patch-polled coot = patch-head. Also patch-box, etc.
1948*Patch bay [see patch cord below]. 1962Huskey & Korn Computer Handbk. iv. 26 Most multipurpose electronic analog computers are programmed by means of a patchboard system which comprises (1) a patchbay with spring-contact terminations for the computing elements and (2) interchangeable removable problem boards which carry the actual interconnecting patchcords.
1949Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation III. 512 Receptacle *patch-board for 500 element connections and 25 main busses. 1961G. Millerson Technique Television Production i. 17 Tape recorders, racks of audio amplifiers, patchboards and an electronic reverberation unit, complete the general set-up. 1971J. H. Smith Digital Logic ii. 28 The inputs and outputs of the logic elements, and the connections to the switched inputs, external terminals and indicator lamps are brought out to a programming device consisting of a patchboard and detachable panel.
1902Daily Chron. 7 Jan. 6/3 The jacket..with two *patch breast pockets with pleats.
1630S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. i. Pref. (1670) 111 See then how strange and monstrous a *patch-coat man is.
1938G. E. Sterling Radio Manual (ed. 3) vii. 442 The input may be connected to a terminal board in rear or to normal-through standard double *patch-cord jacks at front of panel. 1948Electronics July 119/3 To set up the computer the elements are connected..by means of patch cords joining the proper inputs and outputs through the patch bay. 1967[see patch panel below]. 1971J. H. Smith Digital Logic ii. 28 Switching problems are set up by using patch cords on the front panel.
1835*Patch fox [see lord n. 16]. 1930Economist 4 Jan. 10/2 The highest priced fur in 1927–8 was silver fox..; cross or patch fox was second. 1942M. Bosanquet Saddlebags for Suitcases 48 The most common of these [variations] is the ‘cross’ or ‘patch’ fox, which is yellow with a dark cross or patch across the shoulders.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. i. (1668) Table Hard Wds., *Patch-grease..is that tallow which is gotten from the boyling of Shoo-makers shreads.
1964C. P. Gilbert Design & Use Electronic Analogue Computers vi. 364 The dotted line in Fig. 6.7(d) encloses all the sockets within reach of amplifier 3 using short *patch leads. 1971J. H. Smith Digital Logic ii. 18 The reader is advised to have at least 50 patch leads to connect the circuits together.
1807P. Gass Jrnl. 188 Each man has also a sufficient quantity of *patch-leather.
1878Jewitt Ceramic Art I. ii. 27 These dots are arranged so as to form bands; and in others simply ‘*patch’ ornaments.
1952G. A. & T. M. Korn Electronic Analog Computers viii. 339 It should..be possible to provide so-called removable *patch panels of the type used in the IBM punched-card machines. 1967N.Y. Times 9 Jan. 140 Basically, an analog computer consists of an assembly of individual electronic computing elements that can be interconnected by means of a ‘patch panel’ outside the machine. This panel is a terminal board with holes, each hole facing an internal contact. The computer operator uses ‘patch cords’ (wire connectors) to interconnect specific holes for the kind of operation he wants the machine to perform. 1973Physics Bull. Aug. 500/2 The new system, PB100, is a large, sophisticated unit..for rapidly simulating complex digital, analogue or hybrid systems. It features removable patch panels each of which will accommodate up to 44 dual-in-line integrated circuits.
1962Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 82 Patchcord, [deprecated synonym] *patchplug, in a.d.p. a connector used to interconnect the sockets of a plugboard. 1964G. A. & T. M. Korn Electronic Analog & Hybrid Computers xi. 443 With a separate copper-bar signal ground behind the patchbay.., we can use the patchbay shielding as a relay ground and return each relay-coil connection through a single patchplug grounded to its shield.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 556/1 Coat, three-button sack, four *patch pockets. 1908Times (Weekly ed.) 14 Aug. p. iii/3 There are two deep patch pockets..for carrying fly-book and sandwich-case. 1928Daily Express 22 May 5/2 A plain, collarless coat..with two large patch pockets. 1973‘D. Rutherford’ Kick Start iv. 86 He wore an expensive tropical suit with patch pockets and a waist belt. 1976Horse & Hound 3 Dec. 24/1 (Advt.), Two large patch pockets,..and adjustable rear belt make this a smart comfortable coat.
Hence ˈpatchwise adv., in the manner of a patch.
1832Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. xxxix. 684 Statute law stuck patchwise on a body of judiciary.
Add:[6.] g. Computing. A small piece of code inserted into a program, to correct a fault (usu. temporarily) or to improve or enhance the functioning of the program.
1954First Gloss. Programming Terminol. (Assoc. Computing Machinery) 15 Patch, a section of coding inserted into a routine (usually by explicitly transferring control from the routine to the patch and back again) to correct a mistake or alter the routine. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xviii. 295 In the final version of the program, however, all the patches should be removed. 1976A. Ralston Encycl. Computer Sci. 1050/2 The coming of on-line programming has deprived the patch of one of its chief reasons for being. 1983Austral. Personal Computer Aug. 144/3 A neat little patch to WordStar..stops that program pretending that it is sending display characters down a serial line to a dumb terminal, and makes it print them direct on the screen.
h. Music. A (usu. preset) configuration of the controls of a synthesizer so as to produce sound of a particular timbre.
1975R. S. Brindle New Music 114 This patch will produce filtered white sound in repeating irregular waves. 1980B. Graham Music & Synthesiser 27 The synthesiser consists of a number of small units, called modules, which can be used in any order that the operator chooses... The expression we use for joining the units together is ‘setting up a patch’. 1984Sounds 1 Dec. 61/2 And so you go through the split points, programming MIDI channel information, editing sounds (or not) until you have a satisfactory combination of patches. 1986Making Music Apr. 16/1, 70..per cent of synths returned to manufacturers are still found to have their factory programs intact. That means less than 30 per cent of the synth-owning public is inventing and storing new patches.
▪ II. patch, n.2|pætʃ|
[According to T. Wilson 1553, and Heywood 1562, orig. the name or rather nickname of Cardinal Wolsey's domestic ‘fool’ or jester, his real surname being Sexton.
Supposed by some to have been so called from his patched garb, or patched face; but perh. rather an anglicized form of It. pazzo fool. It seems however to have been later associated or taken as identical with patch n.1, as in Shakespeare's ‘patch'd foole’. The following quots., bear on the history of the word:
1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 176 As to call one Patche or Coulson, whom we see to doe a thing foolishly, because these twoo in their tyme were notable fooles. 1562J. Heywood Epigr. i. xliv. (1867) 106 A saiyng of Patche my lord cardinal's foole. Master Sexten, a parson of knowne wit, As he at my lord Cardinals boord did sit [etc.]. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 215 But man is but a patch'd foole, if he will offer to say, what me-thought I had. (See also Warton Hist. Poet. (1840) III. 87; Douce Illust. Shaks. I. 258.)]
A domestic fool; a fool or foolish person generally; a clown, dolt, booby. Now only dial. or colloq. applied to an ill-natured or ill-tempered person, esp. a child. See also cross-patch.
1549Chaloner Erasm. on Folly G ij, This kynde of men whom commenly ye call fooles, doltes, ideotes, and paches. 1561Preston Cambyses E j, Hob and Lob, a ye Cuntry patches. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 3 M. Bridges was a verie patch and a duns, when he was in Cambridge. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 9 A crew of patches, rude mechanicals. 1598Florio, Pazzo, a foole; a patch, a madman. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. i. §19 (tr. Gower) But Jack the mad patch men and houses does snatch. 1830Scott Doom Devorgoil ii. i, Thou art a foolish patch. 1900O'Neill Glens 50 (E.D.D.) As ugly as need be, the dark little patch.
▪ III. patch, v.|pætʃ|
[f. patch n.1]
1. a. trans. To put a patch or patches on; of a thing, to serve as a patch to. Also absol. to patch up, to mend or repair in some sort by putting patches on.
1516[see patched 1]. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 1209 With pitche she patchid her pitcher shuld not crase. 1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke v. 60 b, He renteth a newe vesture to patche vp an olde. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. i. 239 Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a Wall, t'expell the winters flaw. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 256 It either makes a new web, or patches up the old one. c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. III. 77 Why patch up that tawdry gown? 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xv, Windows patched with rags and paper. 1870J. P. Smith Widow Goldsmith's Daughter xviii. 287, I could patch and darn for you. 1888F. Hume Mme. Midas i. Prol., It had one mast, and a small sail all torn and patched.
b. In pa. pple., said of a person in reference to his clothing, etc.
c1500How Plowm. lerned Patern. 147 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 214 He was patched, torne, and all to rente. 1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. iv. ii. 9 Himself goes patched like some bare cottyer. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle D.'s Plays 1873 III. 214 Zounds I am so patcht vp, she cannot discouer me.
c. To fit (a bullet) with a patch (patch n.1 6 b).
1877C. Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer 545 If the bullet is the right size and properly patched, the patch will not be torn in putting the cartridge into the chamber.
d. ‘To overlay or bring up an impression sheet with pieces of thin paper’ (Jacobi Printers' Vocab.).
1884Southward Pract. Printing 470 Patching the Sheet. 1890Jacobi Printing 175 Where the type stands..low it should be patched up with the very thin set-off paper.
2. To mend, repair, or make whole, in various fig. applications. (Usually with up, and implying a hasty, clumsy, imperfect, or temporary manner.)
1573–80Baret Alv. P 184 To Patch, or make whole againe:..to botch: to make amends for that is done amisse. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 252 When wilt thou leaue fighting..and begin to patch vp thine old Body for Heauen? 1601― Twel. N. i. v. 52 Any thing that's mended, is but patch'd:..sin that amends, is but patcht with vertue. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 34 The Surgeon..takes care to patch him up with Speed. 1875W. S. Hayward Love agst. World 40 You'll have to..patch up your quarrel.
3. To make up by joining pieces together as in patchwork; hence, to make up, put together, or frame hastily or insecurely; to botch up.
a1529Skelton Poems agst. Garnesche Wks. 1843 I. 125 The nexte halter ther xall be I bequeth yt hole to the: Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd. 1563J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 40 b, An aparne patched together of figge leaves. 1579Lodge Def. Poetry in G. G. Smith Eliz. Crit. Ess. I. 84 Out of what booke patched you out Cicero's Oration? 1650Fuller Pisgah i. xi. 34 The Samaritans quitted their..Idols, and patched up a religion amongst themselves. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 23/2 Houses, which they patch'd up of Reeds and Bullrushes. 1848Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. i. 146 Any formal, heartless matrimony Patched up by Court intrigues. 1879Black Macleod of D. xxxii, To patch together a pair of homespun trousers.
4. a. To put on or in as a patch; to fit (a thing) into something so as to diversify it, as in patchwork. Also fig.; often depreciatory.
1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Gal. v. 16 b, To haue newe clothe sowed or patched to an olde garmente. 1593Nashe Christs T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 186 It is so vgly daubed, plaistred, and patcht on. 1662Gerbier Princ. 4 Things Patcht or glewed against a Wall. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v., He patched it upon me, who knew nothing of the matter. 1886Willis & Clark Cambridge I. 19 The present windows have been patched into the wall in such a manner as to make it impossible to trace accurately the original state of it.
b. To join as one patch to another; to piece together.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Laugh & be fat Wks. ii. 71/2 Thy person's odd, vnparallel'd, vnmatchd, And yet thy action's to the person patch'd. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iv. 239 It is just possible to patch the two narratives together.
5. a. To mark (a surface) as patches of different colour or material do; to diversify or variegate with patches. (Chiefly in passive.)
1595Shakes. John iii. i. 47 If thou..wert grim..Patch'd with foule Moles, and eye-offending markes. 1711Addison Spect. No. 115 ⁋6 His Stable-doors are patched with Noses that belonged to Foxes of the Knight's own hunting down. 1774Pennant Tour in Scot. in 1772. 32 Grey rocks patched with moss. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xlvi. (1856) 423 The slopes of the hills were heavily patched with snow. 1881M. E. Braddon Asph. xxvi. 290 Yellow lamps..patching with faint light an isolated statue, or a pulpit.
b. intr. for refl. To become coloured in patches.
1896G. L. Becke Pacific Tales, Hollis' Debt (1897) 120 The red, bloated face of the skipper patched and mottled, and his breath came in quick, short gasps.
6. a. To adorn (a person, the face) with patches.
1674R. Newcourt in T. Flatman's Poems 7 Which like their Misses Patch't and Painted are. 1704Steele Lying Lover iii. (1747) 46 But alas, Madam, who patch'd you today? 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. iv, Their hair plastered with pomatum, their faces patched to taste. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. i. (1883) 123 We now went..with faces patched, to the new church in Queen Square.
b. intr. for refl.
1702Farquhar Inconstant ii. i, Your ladyship has patched and painted violently. 1729Law Serious C. ii. (1732) 18 She will find it as impossible to patch or paint, as to curse or swear.
7. intr. to patch off, to come off in patches. rare.
1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs vi, The plaster is patching off the..walls.
8. Electronics.
a. trans. To connect temporarily; also with in, into; similarly to patch out (see quot. 19402).
b. intr. To be temporarily connected.
c. trans. To represent or simulate by means of temporary connections.
[1923: implied in patching vbl. n.1 1.] 1937Printers' Ink Monthly May 40/1 Patch it in, to tie together various pieces of apparatus to form a circuit. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 619/2 Patch, to join together units of apparatus..by flexible cords terminated on plugs, which are inserted into break-jacks bridged across the terminations of each unit. Ibid., Patch in and patch out, the temporary connexion (patching in) of spare apparatus in a circuit with patch cords, defective apparatus being thereby patched out. 1948Electronics July 120/2 Two inverting or summing amplifiers in the computer unit..are patched to the servo as illustrated. 1962Huskey & Korn Computer Handbk. iv. 36 The small extra cost of duplicate resistors for a few plug-in patchboards is negligible compared with the almost incredible nuisance of patching, say, a summing integrator with patchcord connections alone. 1964C. P. Gilbert Design & Use Electronic Analogue Computers vi. 363 In Fig. 6.7(d) unit 2 can patch directly into units 1 and 3, unit 3 can patch directly into units 2 and 4, and so on. 1966Times 21 Sept. (Ascension Island Suppl.) p. iv/3, I recently picked up this telephone and asked the communications centre..to patch me in on the network. 1971J. H. Smith Digital Logic v. 79 Electronic control systems can be quickly developed by patching the required design on a simulator. 1975J. Grady Shadow of Condor (1976) xii. 190 Kevin used the powerful radio in his car to call CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The technicians there patched his radio call into the old man's office phone.
Add:9. Computing. To correct or improve (a program, routine, etc.) by inserting a patch.
1962Automatic Data Processing Gloss. (U.S. Bureau of Budget) 38/2 Patch,..(2) to insert corrected coding. 1984Austral. Microcomputer Mag. Jan. 31/3 The version distributed with Kaypro automatically patches the Kaypro operating system with its own cursor control codes. |