patch

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A small piece of material affixed to another, larger piece to conceal, reinforce, or repair a worn area, hole, or tear.
2. n. A small piece of cloth used for patchwork.
3. n. A small cloth badge affixed to a garment as a decoration or an insignia, as of a military unit.
4. n. A dressing or covering applied to protect a wound or sore.
5. n. A pad or shield of cloth worn over an eye socket or an injured eye.
6. n. A transdermal patch.
7. n. See beauty spot.
8. n. A small piece, part, or section, especially that which differs from or contrasts with the whole: a patch of thin ice; patches of sunlight.
9. n. A small plot or piece of land, especially one that produces or is used for growing specific vegetation: a briar patch; a bean patch.
10. n. An indefinite period of time; a spell: weathered a difficult patch after losing his job.
11. n. A temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system.
12. n. Computer Science A piece of code added to software in order to fix a bug, especially as a temporary correction between two releases.
13. v. To put a patch or patches on.
14. v. To make by sewing scraps of material together: patch a quilt.
15. v. 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.
16. v. To connect temporarily (electronic components), as with a patch cord.
17. v. Computer Science To correct a bug in (an item of software), especially as a temporary correction between releases.
18. v. Electronics To be connected temporarily.
19. n. A fool or clown; a dolt.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Any piece of material used to repair a defective place in some fabric or construction, as a piece of cloth sewed on a garment where it is torn or worn, a bit of masonry, mosaic, tiling, or the like, used to repair a defect in old work, or a sod or sods employed to make good an injured spot in a lawn.
2. n. A piece of cloth cut into some regular shape, to be sewed with others into patchwork.
3. n. A small piece of silk or court-plaster used on the face, with the apparent purpose of heightening the complexion by contrast. In the seventeenth century patches were used cut not merely in squares and triangles, but in various extraordinary forms and of considerable size; they were even cut into groups of figures several inches long and elaborate in outline. In the eighteenth century, and especially at the court of France, the fashion of wearing patches came again into vogue, and it has been deemed an essential accompaniment to powdered hair, reappearing fitfully whenever the use of powder has been reintroduced. Patches received special names according to the place where they were applied, as the coquette when on the lips, the effrontée or bold when on the nose, etc.
4. n. A small piece of leather, greased canvas, pasteboard, or the like, used as the wadding for a rifle-ball.
5. n. 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.
6. n. A block fixed on the muzzle of a gun to make the line of sight parallel with the axis of the bore.
7. n. A small piece of ground, especially one under cultivation; a small detached piece; a plot; a comparatively small piece or expanse of anything, as of snow, grass, etc.
8. n. A paltry fellow; a ninny; a fool. The professional fool was formerly so called.
9. n. A harlequin.
10. n. In zoology, a small, well-defined part of a surface characterized by peculiar color or appearance.
11. n. An overlay put on the impression-surface of a printing-press, to get stronger impression on the type covered by the patch, and make a clearer print.
12. Arranged in patches, or separate squares, or the like.
13. To mend by adding a patch: often with up.
14. Especially— To sew a piece of cloth upon (a garment) where it is torn or worn out.
15. To repair (masonry) by filling interstices and fractures with new mortar or the like.
16. To substitute new work for, as for defaced or partly destroyed work in mosaic or inlaying.
17. To serve as a patch on.
18. To adorn by putting a patch or patches on the face; also, to adorn with patches, as the face.
19. To form of odd pieces or shreds; construct of ill-assorted parts or elements; hence, to make or mend hastily or without regard to forms: usually with up: as, to patch up a peace; to patch up a quarrel.
20. To fit or adjust with a patch or wad of leather, etc.: said of a rifle-ball.
21. To form patches, as snow on a mountain-side, vegetation on a ruin, etc.
22. n. A piece of court-plaster used to protect a small wound.
23. n. A piece of cloth, or the like, sewed on a coat or gown as a badge or ornament. In the extract it refers to the band on the cap.
24. n. A piece of stiffened cloth, or the like, or a pad, worn over an eye, to protect it.

Wiktionary

1. n. archaic A paltry fellow; a rogue; a ninny; a fool.
2. n. A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
3. n. A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.
4. n. A repair intended to be used for a limited time; (differs from previous usage in that it is intended to be a temporary fix and the size of the repair is irrelevant). This usage can mean that the repair is temporary because it is an early but necessary step in the process of properly, completely repairing something,
5. n. A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size);
6. n. A small piece of black silk stuck on the face, or neck to heighten beauty; as in, imitation beauty mark.
7. n. medicine A piece of material used to cover a wound.
8. n. medicine An adhesive piece of material, impregnated with a drug, which is worn on the skin; the drug being slowly absorbed over a period of time.
9. n. medicine A cover worn over a damaged eye, an eyepatch.
10. n. A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.
11. n. computing A patch file, a file used for input to a patch program or that describes changes made to a computer file or files, usually changes made to a computer program that fix a programming bug.
12. n. A small piece of material that is manually passed through a gun barrel to clean it.
13. n. A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.
14. n. A cable connecting two pieces of electrical equipment.
15. v. To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like; as, to patch a coat.
16. v. To mend with pieces; to repair by fastening pieces on.
17. v. To make out of pieces or patches, like a quilt.
18. v. To join or unite the pieces of; to patch the skirt.
19. v. A temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system.
20. v. To repair or arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner; – generally with up; as, to patch up a truce.
21. v. computing To make the changes a patch describes; to apply a patch to the files in question. Hence:
22. v. To connect two pieces of electrical equipment using a cable.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, esp. upon an old garment to cover a hole.
2. n. A small piece of anything used to repair a breach
3. n. A small piece of black silk stuck on the face, or neck, to hide a defect, or to heighten beauty.
4. n. (Gun.) A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.
5. n. Fig.: Anything regarded as a patch; a small piece of ground; a tract; a plot.
6. n. (Mil.) A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.
7. n. Obs. or Colloq. A paltry fellow; a rogue; a ninny; a fool.
8. v. To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like.
9. v. To mend with pieces; to repair with pieces festened on; to repair clumsily.
10. v. To adorn, as the face, with a patch or patches.
11. v. To make of pieces or patches; to repair as with patches; to arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner; -- generally with up.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a piece of cloth used as decoration or to mend or cover a hole
2. v. repair by adding pieces
3. n. a protective cloth covering for an injured eye
4. n. a connection intended to be used for a limited time
5. n. a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition
6. n. a small contrasting part of something
7. n. sewing that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment)
8. n. a short set of commands to correct a bug in a computer program
9. n. a piece of soft material that covers and protects an injured part of the body
10. v. mend by putting a patch on
11. n. a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation
12. v. to join or unite the pieces of
13. v. provide with a patch; also used metaphorically