Patch
WordNet
noun
(1) A piece of soft material that covers and protects an injured part of the body
(2) A protective cloth covering for an injured eye
(3) Sewing that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment)
"Her stockings had several mends"
(4) A piece of cloth used as decoration or to mend or cover a hole
(5) A connection intended to be used for a limited time
(6) A small contrasting part of something
"A bald spot"
"A leopard's spots"
"A patch of clouds"
"Patches of thin ice"
"A fleck of red"
(7) A short set of commands to correct a bug in a computer program
(8) A small area of ground covered by specific vegetation
"A bean plot"
"A cabbage patch"
"A briar patch"
(9) A period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition
"He was here for a little while"
"I need to rest for a piece"
"A spell of good weather"
"A patch of bad weather"
verb
(10) Repair by adding pieces
"She pieced the china cup"
(11) Mend by putting a patch on
"Patch a hole"
(12) To join or unite the pieces of
"Patch the skirt"
(13) Provide with a patch; also used metaphorically
"The field was patched with snow"
WiktionaryText
Noun
- 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.
- A small piece of anything used to repair a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.
- A small piece of black silk stuck on the face, or neck, to hide a defect, or to heighten beauty.
- A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.
- A small area, a small piece of ground; a tract; a plot; as, scattered patches of trees or growing corn.
- A period of time.
- The world economy had a rough patch in the 1930s.
- A fit.
- A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.
- A paltry fellow; a rogue; a ninny; a fool.
- A file describing changes made to a computer file or files, usually changes made to a computer program that fix a programming bug. A patch file, a file used for input to a patch program.
- 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.
- A small piece of material that is manually passed through a gun barrel to clean it.
- (Often patch cable, patch cord etc.; see also patch panel) A cable connecting two pieces of electrical equipment.
Proper noun
- The program that updates old versions of files, based on a record of differences with the newer versions.
Usage notes
The proper noun "patch" is written in lower case because of Unix conventions and its case sensitivity.
Verb
- To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like; as, to patch a coat.
- To mend with pieces; to repair with pieces fastened on.
- To repair clumsily; as, to patch the roof of a house.
- To adorn, as the face, with a patch or patches.
- To make of pieces or patches like a quilt.
- To repair as with patches.
- To arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner; – generally with up; as, to patch up a truce.
- To make the changes a patch describes; to apply a patch to the files in question. Hence:
- To fix or improve a computer program without a complete upgrade.
- To make a quick and possibly temporary change to a program.
- To connect two pieces of electrical equipment using a cable.
- I'll need to patch the preamp output to the mixer