Word Direct Answers

What does "stitch" mean?

Stitch: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Etym: [Cf. OE. sticche, stecche, stucche, a piece, AS. stycce. Cf. Stock.] A space of work taken up, or gone over, in a single pass of the needle; hence, by extension, any space passed over; distance. You have gone a good stitch. Bunyan. In Syria the husbandmen go lightly over with their plow, and take no deep stitch in making their furrows. Holland.
  2. 3.A local sharp pain; an acute pain, like the piercing of a needle; as, a stitch in the side. He was taken with a cold and with stitches, which was, indeed, a pleurisy. Bp. Burnet.
  3. 4.A contortion, or twist. [Obs.] If you talk, Or pull your face into a stitch again, I shall be angry. Marston.
  4. 5.Any least part of a fabric or dress; as, to wet every stitch of clothes. [Colloq.]
  5. 6.A furrow. Chapman. Chain stitch, Lock stitch. See in the Vocabulary. -- Pearl, or Purl stitch. See 2nd Purl, 2.
  6. 7.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.
  7. 8.To sew, or unite together by stitches; as, to stitch printed sheets in making a book or a pamphlet.
  8. 9.(Agric.) To form land into ridges. To stitch up, to mend or unite with a needle and thread; as, to stitch up a rent; to stitch up an artery.
  9. 10.To practice stitching, or needlework.

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