hitch
See also: Hitch
English
Etymology
Probably from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English hytchen, or icchen (“to move as with a jerk”), of obscure origin. Lacks cognates in other languages. Compare itch.
Pronunciation
Noun
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Two_half_hitches_3.jpg/220px-Two_half_hitches_3.jpg)
hitch (plural hitches)
- A sudden pull.
- Any of various knots used to attach a rope to an object other than another rope[1].
- A fastener or connection point, as for a trailer.
- His truck sported a heavy-duty hitch for his boat.
- (informal) A problem, delay or source of difficulty.
- The banquet went off without a hitch. ("the banquet went smoothly.")
- A hidden or unfavorable condition or element; a catch.
- The deal sounds too good to be true. What's the hitch?
- (military, slang) A period of time spent in the military.
- She served two hitches in Vietnam.
- 2004, June 3, Stephen J. Hedges & Mike Dorning, Chicago Tribune; Orlando Sentinel; page pg. A.1
- U.S. TROOPS FACE LONGER ARMY HITCH; SOLDIERS BOUND FOR IRAQ, ... WILL BE RETAINED
Synonyms
Hyponyms
- (knot): See
List of hitch knots on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Derived terms
Translations
sudden pull
|
knot
|
connection point for trailer
|
problem, delay or source of difficulty
|
Verb
hitch (third-person singular simple present hitches, present participle hitching, simple past and past participle hitched)
- (transitive) To pull with a jerk.
- She hitched her jeans up and then tightened her belt.
- (transitive) To attach, tie or fasten.
- He hitched the bedroll to his backpack and went camping.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.
- (informal) To marry oneself to; especially to get hitched.
- (informal, transitive) contraction of hitchhike, to thumb a ride.
- to hitch a ride
- (intransitive) To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling.
- South
- atoms […] which at length hitched together
- South
- (intransitive) To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded.
- Alexander Pope
- Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme.
- Fuller
- To ease themselves […] by hitching into another place.
- Alexander Pope
- (UK) To strike the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)
Synonyms
- (attach): affix, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
- (marry oneself to): splice, wed; see also Thesaurus:marry
Translations
to pull with a jerk
|
to attach
References
- ^ Knots and Splices by Cyrus L Day, Adlard Coles Nautical, 2001
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English 1-syllable words
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- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪtʃ
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English informal terms
- en:Military
- English slang
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