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patch

 - 13 dictionary results
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patch

1  [pach]
Use patch in a Sentence
–noun
1. a small piece of material used to mend a tear or break, to cover a hole, or to strengthen a weak place: patches at the elbows of a sports jacket.
2. a piece of material used to cover or protect a wound, an injured part, etc.: a patch over the eye.
3. an adhesive patch that applies to the skin and gradually delivers drugs or medication to the user: using a nicotine patch to try to quit smoking.
4. any of the pieces of cloth sewed together to form patchwork.
5. a small piece, scrap, or area of anything: a patch of ice on the road.
6. a piece or tract of land; plot.
7. a small field, plot, or garden, esp. one in which a specific type of plant grows or is cultivated: a cabbage patch; a bean patch.
8. beauty spot (def. 1).
9. Military. a cloth emblem worn on the upper uniform sleeve to identify the military unit of the wearer.
10. a small organizational or affiliational emblem of cloth sewn to one's jacket, shirt, cap, etc.
11. a connection or hookup, as between radio circuits or telephone lines: The patch allowed shut-ins to hear the game by telephone.
–verb (used with object)
12. to mend, cover, or strengthen with or as if with a patch or patches.
13. to repair or restore, esp. in a hasty or makeshift way (usually fol. by up).
14. to make by joining patches or pieces together: to patch a quilt.
15. to settle or smooth over (a quarrel, difference, etc.) (often fol. by up): They patched up their quarrel before the company arrived.
16. (esp. in radio and telephone communications) to connect or hook up (circuits, programs, conversations, etc.) (often fol. by through, into, etc.): The radio show was patched through to the ship. Patch me through to the mainland.
–verb (used without object)
17. to make a connection between radio circuits, telephone lines, etc. (often fol. by in or into): We patched into the ship-to-shore conversation.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME pacche; perh. akin to OPr pedas piece to cover a hole < VL *pedaceum lit., something measured; cf. ML pedāre to measure in feet; see ped-

Related forms:
patch⋅a⋅ble, adjective
patcher, noun
patchless, adjective

Synonyms:
11. See mend. 12. fix.

Antonyms:
11. break.
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patch

2  [pach]
–noun
a clown, fool, or booby.
Origin:
1540–50; perh. < It pazzo fool

Patch

  [pach]
–noun
Alexander Mc⋅Car⋅rell  [muh-kar-uhl] , 1889–1945, U.S. World War II general.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To patch
beauty spot  
n.  

  1. A mole or birthmark. Also called beauty mark.

  2. A small black mark penciled or glued on a woman's face or shoulders to accentuate the fairness of her skin or to conceal a blemish. Also called beauty mark, patch1.

  3. A location noted for its beauty.

patch 1   (pāch)   
n.  

    1. A small piece of material affixed to another, larger piece to conceal, reinforce, or repair a worn area, hole, or tear.

    2. A small piece of cloth used for patchwork.

    3. A dressing or covering applied to protect a wound or sore.

    4. A pad or shield of cloth worn over an eye socket or an injured eye.

    5. A transdermal patch.

    6. A small piece, part, or section, especially that which differs from or contrasts with the whole: a patch of thin ice; patches of sunlight.

    7. A small plot or piece of land, especially one that produces or is used for growing specific vegetation: a briar patch; a bean patch.

  2. A small cloth badge affixed to a garment as a decoration or an insignia, as of a military unit.

    1. A dressing or covering applied to protect a wound or sore.

    2. A pad or shield of cloth worn over an eye socket or an injured eye.

    3. A transdermal patch.

    4. A small piece, part, or section, especially that which differs from or contrasts with the whole: a patch of thin ice; patches of sunlight.

    5. A small plot or piece of land, especially one that produces or is used for growing specific vegetation: a briar patch; a bean patch.

  4. See beauty spot.

    1. A small piece, part, or section, especially that which differs from or contrasts with the whole: a patch of thin ice; patches of sunlight.

    2. A small plot or piece of land, especially one that produces or is used for growing specific vegetation: a briar patch; a bean patch.

  6. An indefinite period of time; a spell: weathered a difficult patch after losing his job.

  7. A temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system.

  8. Computer Science A piece of code added to software in order to fix a bug, especially as a temporary correction between two releases.

v.   patched, patch·ing, patch·es

v.   tr.

  1. To put a patch or patches on.

  2. To make by sewing scraps of material together: patch a quilt.

  3. To mend, repair, or put together, especially hastily, clumsily, or poorly: They patched together the broken statues with glue and plaster. The delegates will be forced to patch up their differences.

  4. To connect temporarily (electronic components), as with a patch cord.

  5. Computer Science To correct a bug in (an item of software), especially as a temporary correction between releases.

v.   intr.
Electronics To be connected temporarily.

[Middle English pacche, perhaps alteration of pece, pieche, piece; see piece.]
patch'a·ble adj., patch'er n.
patch 2   (pāch)   
n.  A fool or clown; a dolt.

[Perhaps from Italian dialectal paccio, from Old Italian.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

patch  (1)
"piece of cloth used to mend another material," 1382, of obscure origin, perhaps a variant of pece, pieche, from O.N.Fr. pieche (see piece), or from an unrecorded O.E. word. The verb is 1447, from the noun; electronics sense of "to connect temporarily" is attested from 1923. Patchwork is from 1692. Phrase not a patch on "nowhere near as good as" is from 1860.

patch  (2)
"fool, clown," 1549, perhaps from It. pazzo "fool," which is possibly from O.H.G. barzjan "to rave." Form perhaps infl. by folk-etymology from patch (1), on notion of a fool's patched garb.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: patch
Pronunciation: 'pach
Function: noun
1 a : a piece of material (as an adhesive plaster) used medically usually to cover a wound,repair a defect, or supply medication through the skin —see PATCH GRAFT, SKIN PATCH b : a shield worn over the socket of an injured or missing eye
2 : acircumscribed region of tissue (as on the skin or in a section from an organ) that differs from the normal color or composition patches develop on the tongue,the cheeks, and the gums —Morris Fishbein> —patch transitive verb —patchy /-E/ adjective patch·i·er;-est
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

patch (pāch)
n.

  1. A small circumscribed area differing from the surrounding surface.

  2. A dressing or covering applied to protect a wound or sore.

  3. A transdermal patch.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Science Dictionary
patch   (pāch)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. A temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system.

  2. A piece of code added to software in order to fix a bug, especially as a temporary correction between two versions of the same software.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Computing Dictionary

patch software
1. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing bug or misfeature. A patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated permanently into the program. Distinguished from a diff or mod by the fact that a patch is generated by more primitive means than the rest of the program; the classical examples are instructions modified by using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to the binary executable of a program originally written in an HLL. Compare one-line fix.
2. To insert a patch into a piece of code.
3. [in the Unix world] A diff.
4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a patching program. IBM systems often receive updates to the operating system in the form of absolute hexadecimal patches. If you have modified your OS, you have to disassemble these back to the source code. The patches might later be corrected by other patches on top of them (patches were said to "grow scar tissue"). The result was often a convoluted patch space and headaches galore.
There is a classic story of a tiger team penetrating a secure military computer that illustrates the danger inherent in binary patches (or, indeed, any patches that you can't - or don't - inspect and examine before installing). They couldn't find any trap doors or any way to penetrate security of IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an IBM office (remember, these were official military types who were purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery, and created a fake patch. The patch was actually the trapdoor they needed. The patch was distributed at about the right time for an IBM patch, had official stationery and all accompanying documentation, and was dutifully installed. The installation manager very shortly thereafter learned something about proper procedures.
5. Larry Wall's "patch" utility program, which automatically applies a patch to a set of source code or other text files. Patch accepts input in any of the four forms output by the Unix diff utility. When the files being patched are not identical to those on which the diffs were based, patch uses heuristics to determine how to proceed.
Diff and patch are the standard way of producing and applying updates under Unix. Both have been ported to other operating systems.
Patch Home.
[The Jargon File]
(2005-05-16)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
PATCH
planned approach to community health
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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