Stitch

Pronunciation

• enPR: stÄ­ch, IPA: /stɪt​͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

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-Germanic *stikiz ("prick, piercing, stitch"), from Proto-Indo-European *steg- ("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.

Full definition of stitch

Noun

1. A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.
2. An arrangement of stitches in sewing, or method of stitching in some particular way or style.cross stitchherringbone stitch
3. (sports) An intense stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage, caused by internal organs pulling downwards on the diaphragm during exercise.
4. A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link, or loop, of yarndrop a stitchtake up a stitch
5. An arrangement of stitches in knitting, or method of knitting in some particular way or style.
6. A space of work taken up, or gone over, in a single pass of the needle.
7. Hence, by extension, any space passed over; distance.
8. You have gone a good stitch. — John Bunyan.In Syria the husbandmen go lightly over with their plow, and take no deep stitch in making their furrows. — Holland.
9. A local sharp pain; an acute pain, like the piercing of a needle.a stitch in the side
• Gilbert BurnetHe was taken with a cold and with stitches, which was, indeed, a pleurisy.
10. (obsolete) A contortion, or twist.
• MarstonIf you talk, Or pull your face into a stitch again, I shall be angry.
11. (colloquial) Any least part of a fabric or dress.to wet every stitch of clothes.She didn't have a stitch on
12. A furrow.

From Old English stiċian

Verb

1. 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.
2. To sew, or unite or attach by stitches.to stitch printed sheets in making a book or a pamphlet.
• 2011, November 10, Jeremy Wilson, tEngland Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report, With such focus from within the footballing community this week on Remembrance Sunday, there was something appropriate about Colchester being the venue for last night’s game. Troops from the garrison town formed a guard of honour for both sets of players, who emerged for the national anthem with poppies proudly stitched into their tracksuit jackets.
3. (agriculture) To form land into ridges.
4. (intransitive) To practice/practise stitching or needlework.
5. (computing, 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.

Synonyms

• (form stitches in): sew
• (unite by stitches): sew, sew together, stitch together
• (form land into ridges): plough (British), plow (US)

Derived terms