Word Direct Answers

What does "hitch" mean?

Hitch: To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; -- said of something obstructed or impeded. Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme. Pope. To ease themselves . . . by hitching into another place. Fuller.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To hit the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere. [Eng.] Halliwell.
  2. 3.To hook; to catch or fasten as by a hook or a knot; to make fast, unite, or yoke; as, to hitch a horse, or a halter.
  3. 4.To move with hitches; as, he hitched his chair nearer. To hitch up. (a) To fasten up. (b) To pull or raise with a jerk; as, a sailor hitches up his trousers. (c) To attach, as a horse, to a vehicle; as, hitch up the gray mare. [Colloq.]
  4. 5.A catch; anything that holds, as a hook; an impediment; an obstacle; an entanglement.
  5. 6.The act of catching, as on a hook, etc.
  6. 7.A stop or sudden halt; a stoppage; an impediment; a temporary obstruction; an obstacle; as, a hitch in one's progress or utterance; a hitch in the performance.
  7. 8.A sudden movement or pull; a pull up; as, the sailor gave his trousers a hitch.
  8. 9.(Naut.) A knot or noose in a rope which can be readily undone; -- intended for a temporary fastening; as, a half hitch; a clove hitch; a timber hitch, etc.
  9. 10.(Geol.) A small dislocation of a bed or vein.

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