Stitch sb.¹

Forms: 1 stice, 3–6 stiche, 4–6 stych(e, 5 steche, 5–6 stytche, 6–8 stich, 6–7 stitche, 6– stitch. See also STEEK sb. [OE. stice str. masc., corresp. to OFris. steke prick, stab, OS. stiki (Gallée), point, thrust (MLG. steke), OHG. stih (MHG., mod.G. stich) prick, sting, stab, stitch (Da. stik, Sw. stick, stab, stitch, prob. from LG.), Goth. stik-s point of time:—OTeut. *stiki-z, f. *stik- root of STICK v.]

  I.  A thrust, stab.

  † 1.  A prick, puncture, or stab, inflicted by a pointed implement. Only OE.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxvi. 26. Se ðe us ʓehæleð from ðæm stice urra synna [a peccatorum nos punctionibus salvans].

c. 1000.  Ags. Laws Æthelb., lxvii. Ʒif man þeoh ðurhstingþ, stice ʓehwilce .VI. scillingas.

  2.  A sharp sudden local pain, like that produced by the thrust of a pointed weapon; esp. (now only) an acute spasmodic pain in the intercostal muscles, called more fully a stitch in the side. Also in generalized or collective sense.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 174. Wið miltewærce & stice.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 282. Al so, on eðelich stiche oðer on eðelich eche makeð uorte understonden hwu lutel wurð is prude.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 35. Stiches i þi lonke.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 475/1. Styche, peyne on þe syde, telum.

1490.  Caxton, Eneydos, xxviii. 110. The gowte or the poplesie, the stytches or the paralesye.

a. 1500.  Brut, 604. Aftyr þat, ther fylle a gret dissese in Engelond callyd þe styche, þat moche peeple deyde sodeynly þerof.

1533.  Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 83 b. Stytches and grefes in the sides.

1561.  Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 20. If a man hath a stiche about the hart.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., III. ii. 73. If you desire the spleene, and will laughe your selues into stitches, follow me.

1683.  Ashmole, Diary (1774), 366. A stitch took me at the setting on of my left hip.

1713.  Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 122. Pains and Stitches behind the Ears.

1748.  Smollett, Rod. Rand., xxvii. The third [patient] complained of a pleuritic stitch.

1886.  Stevenson, Kidnapped, xxiv. I had a painful stitch in my side, which never left me.

1898.  P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, xxiii. 354. Fuller inspiration is attended with stitch.

1898.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 198. The agonising stitch or pleurisy.

  † b.  fig.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 110. In his seli soule … he hefde þe stiche of sori & seoruhful pine.

1622.  Bacon, Hen. VII., 182. Thinking now that hee should be cured of those privie Stitches which hee had long had about his Heart.

1661.  Burney, Κέρδ. Δῶρον, 128. The King hates bribes…. These are stitches to the Prince’s sides.

  ¶ c.  A stiff and affected carriage of the body has sometimes been jocularly compared to the effect of a stitch in the side.

1599.  B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., III. iv. (1601), F 2 b. One that … Salutes a friend, as if he had a stitch.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. ix. Mrs. Wilfer, majestically faint, and with a condescending stitch in her side: which was her company manner.

  † 3.  transf. A contortion of the face, a grimace.

1619.  Fletcher, M. Thomas, II. i. (1639), D 3. Leave your stiches. Ibid. (a. 1625), Captain, II. ii. If you talke Or pull your face into a stich againe.

  † 4.  fig. A grudge, dislike, spite, ground of complaint. Chiefly in phr. to have or take a stitch against (rarely at) (a person). Obs.

a. 1591.  H. Smith, Serm. (1594), 224. Therefore his Maiestie hath a stitch against her, as Salomon had to Shimei.

1625.  Bp. Mountagu, App. Cæsar., 121. Their whole stitch is against the Church Representative in a Generall Councell.

a. 1639.  W. Whateley, Prototypes, II. xxx. (1640), 100. We sometimes take such a stitch and spleene against those whom nature hath tyed to us.

1652.  Heylyn, Cosmogr., Introd. 19. The Princes of Italy, and the Florentines, have a stich at Venice.

1679.  Alsop, Melius Inq., I. i. 94. Against these persons the Enquirer has a desperate stitch.

  II.  A movement in sewing or the like.

  5.  a. Each of the movements of a threaded needle in and out of a fabric which is being sewn. Also, the like movement with the awl in shoemaking.

c. 1290.  St. Mark, 12, in S. Eng. Leg., 362. Þe soutare atþe furste stiche fuel vuele is hond he piȝte.

a. 1542.  Wyatt, Poems, ‘Who hath heard.’ She … wisshed eche stitche as she did sit & soo had prykt my hert.

1562–75.  Gammer Gurton, Prol. 1. As Gammer Gurton, with manye a wyde styche, Sat pesynge and patching of Hodg her mans briche.

1594.  Lyly, Mother Bombie, I. iii. Euery stitch in her sampler is a pricking stitch at my heart.

1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, I. 92. In the merchant-service it is common to stick the seams with two rows of stitches, when the sail is half worn.

1840.  Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, v. She had not gone through many pages, or Becky advanced many stitches in the darning of that table-cloth.

1875.  Plain Needlework, 14. This causes the needle to go in slanting, and so making one half of the stitch wider than the other half.

1878.  Encycl. Brit., VIII. 162/1. Probabilities forbid us from believing that Matilda and her waiting maids ever did a stitch on this canvas.

  Prov.  1793.  Friendly Addr. Poor, 14. A stitch in time may save nine.

1855.  Bohn, Handbk. Prov., 301. A stitch in time saves nine.

  b.  The portion or loop of thread or yarn left in the fabric as a result of this movement, and forming (usually in a series) the material by which the parts of the sewn fabric are held together.

1394.  P. Pl. Crede, 553. Þei ben y-sewed wiþ whiȝt silk & semes full queynte, Y-stongen wiþ stiches þat stareþ as siluer.

1399.  On K. Richard’s Ministers, in Pol. Poems (Rolls), I. 363. Hit is so roton on ych a side, Ther nul no stych with odur abyde, to set theron a clout.

a. 1529.  Skelton, P. Sparowe, 212. I toke my sampler … To sowe with stytchis of sylke My sparow whyte as mylke.

1662.  Dryden, Wild Gallant, I. i. The Stitches of thy Doublet are so far asunder, that it seems to hang together by the Teeth.

1768.  Sterne, Sent. Journ., Temptation. A stitch or two had broke out in the gathers of my stock.

1821.  Dibdin, Bibliogr. Tour, I. 379. (Bayeux Tapestry) The stitches, if they may be so called, are threads laid side by side—and bound down at intervals by cross stitches, or fastenings—upon rather a fine linen cloth.

1844.  Newton’s Lond. Jrnl., Conj. Ser. XXV. 247. When the stitch which fastens on the outer sole is passed through the strip of leather, it draws the strip over the stitches that unite the upper leather to the inner sole, thus concealing them.

1886.  Encycl. Brit., XXI. 831/1. They [the soles] are stitched to the welt, about twelve stitches of strong waxed thread being made to the inch.

  fig.  a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. xxi. § 3. If in the mean time one of them did not pull out their il-wrought stiches of vnkindnes.

1593.  Nashe, Four Lett. Conf. (end). Finally, Printers haue many false stiches, which are thus to bee drawen vp.

  c.  In machine sewing, a single motion of a needle and shuttle carrying the thread through the fabric; or the loop or interlocked thread thus produced.

1844.  Newton’s Lond. Jrnl., Conj. Ser. XXV. 305. When the work has passed through the machine, it will be found that a running stitch has been produced.

1883.  S. Chappel, Sewing Machine, 23. The machine will now gather the work, and the longer stitch you have on the fuller the gathering will be.

  d.  Phr. Stitch by stitch: used to describe strong and careful sewing in which one stitch is performed at a time (as distinct from ‘running’); also fig.

1566.  T. Stapleton, Ret. Untr. Jewel, Pref. ****2 b. But for one man to answer the whole, and that stitche by stitche (as the Replier requireth) both the time woulde be so longe, that many a soule in the meane might perish,… and also the booke woulde be so greate that [etc.] Ibid., IV. 195 b. M. Iewelles whole Replie in these matters hath bene at longe and stitche by stitche confuted.

1880.  [Mrs. L. S. Floyer], Plain Hints Exam. Needlew., 107. The slow stitch-by-stitch movement [run] … in good plain work.

  e.  In emphatic phrases with a negative or the like: A single movement with the needle; fig. a ‘stroke’ of work of any kind.

1581.  Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 116 b. The other would not worke a stitch, but goeth loytering up and downe all daie long.

1623.  Middleton, More Dissemblers, I. iv. I must either have the Song … or I’ll not do a stitch of service for you from one weeks end to the other.

1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 648. If men knew what was just enough to carry them to heaven, they would not do a stitch more than absolutely necessary. Ibid., II. 528. The shoe-maker earns enough in four days to maintain him the whole week, so he never will do a stitch of work before Wednesday morning.

  6.  Surgery. The movement of the needle through the edges of a wound when it is being sewn up; each loop of thread or other material fastened in the skin or flesh as a result of the operation.

  Royal stitch: see ROYAL a. 15. † Dry stitch (= mod.L. sutura sicca): an appliance of sticking plaster serving the purpose of a suture.

1525.  trans. Brunswyke’s Handywork Surg., xiii. C iij. Ye shall set the fyrst stiche in y^e myddis of the woundys lyppys, the other a fynger brode betwene euery .ii. stiches.

1674.  trans. G. Fabritius (Hildanus) Cista Milit., 32. In wounds of the face I never use Needle, but that which is called the dry stitch.

1749.  Gataker, trans. Le Dran’s Oper. Surg., 35. If the wound has one or more hanging lips of an irregular figure, the first stitch must be made at the angle of each lip.

1894.  Lancet, 3 Nov., 1028/2. The serous surfaces were apposed by several Lembert’s stitches.

1908.  Animal Managem. (Vet. Departm., War Office), 327. Stitches should be … not drawn so taut as to cause any tension on the skin.

  7.  A single complete movement of the needle or other implement used in knitting, netting, crochet, embroidery, lace-making, etc.; the portion of the work produced by such a movement. Phr. to let down, drop, take up a stitch.

1599.  Minsheu, Sp. Dict., Dial. 2 Looke well if the stockings haue any stitches broken in them.

1620.  Shelton, 2nd Pt. Quixote, xliv. 288. As he pulled off his stockings, there broke from him … some foure and twenty stitches and a halfe, that made his stocking looke like a Lettice-window.

1773.  Johnson (ed. 4), Stitch,… a link of yarn in knitting.

1818.  Mrs. Sherwood, Fairchild Family, I. xxiv. (1829), 257. She had been knitting,… but she dropped several stitches.

1844.  Cornelia Mee, Comp. Work-table, 25. Knit 15 stitches plain.

1844.  Mrs. H. Owen, Ladies’ Bk. Needlework (ed. 2), 2. Netting…. The stitch is formed by taking the mesh in your left hand, [etc.].

1881.  Encycl. Brit., XII. 299/1. The stocking-frame,… which mechanically produces the looped stitch.

  fig.  1862.  Sat. Rev., 8 Feb., 148. When a dropped stitch is taken up in the personal biography of one who … has influenced the religious life of millions, it is [etc.].

1881.  Times, 16 July, 11/2. The Committee will … be enabled to take up the stitches dropped in the process [of examining the Bill].

  8.  Bookbinding. A fastening of leaves, esp. those of pamphlets, with thread or wire drawn through a hole previously pierced. Cf. STITCH v. 5.

1835.  Hannett, Bibliopegia, II. (1865), 224. The third sheet having only one stitch.

  9.  A particular mode of using the needle or other implement, in sewing, knitting, embroidery, etc.; the kind or style of work thus produced.

  See also BACK-, CHAIN-, CROSS-, FEATHER-, HEM-, WHIP-STITCH; BREDE sb.³ 4, BUTTON-HOLE sb. 4, CORAL sb.¹ 9, DAMASK sb. 10, DOT sb.¹ 8, FLEMISH a. 3, GERMAN a.² 4, GOBELIN 1, HERRING-BONE sb. 2 a, HONEY-COMB sb. 6, IRISH a. 2 c, LOCK sb.² 20, QUEEN sb. 13, RIBBED ppl. a. 2 b, ROPE sb.¹ 9, RUSSIAN a. 2 d, SATIN sb. 8 a, SPIDER sb. 10, STEM sb.¹ 8, etc. For true-stitch (lit. and fig.) see TRUE a. D. 1 c.

1624.  in Archæologia, XLVIII. 144. A long cushion of Irish stitch.

1640.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Prayse of Needle, A 2. Fine Ferne-stitch, Finny-stitch, New-stitch, and Chain-stitch, Braue Bred-stitch, Fisher-stitch, Irish-stitch, and Queen-stitch, The Spanish-stitch, Rosemary-stitch, and Mowse-stitch.

1677.  Plot, Oxfordsh., 259. He also represents in a most exquisite manner, both the Irish and Bredth stitch in Carpets and Screens.

1758.  Johnson, Idler, No. 13, ¶ 7. When she is engaged in teaching them a new stitch.

1856.  Mrs. Pullan, Lady’s Dict. Needlework.

1890.  Sara J. Duncan, Social Depart., 121. Upstairs there were no trivialities in Kensington stitch, or any other stitch.

  fig.  1565.  T. Stapleton, Fortr. Faith, I. vii. 37 b. I will with an other stitche worke this matter againe.

  10.  A loop of thread or yarn as an ultimate constituent of a sewn or woven fabric; hence, any the least piece of fabric or clothing. Every stitch, all the clothes one is wearing; every available piece (of sail); occas. every part (of a structure); every ‘inch’ (of a person).

a. 1500[?].  Chester Pl., iii. 75. I will goe to gather sliche, the ship for to cleane and piche; anoynted yt must be every stich, board, tree, and pyn.

1817.  Byron, Beppo, iv. You’d better walk about begirt with briars, Instead of coat and smallclothes, than put on A single stitch reflecting upon friars.

1837.  Disraeli, Venetia, VI. x. A boat,… with every stitch of canvas set.

1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 16. The master … gave instant orders to lighten every stitch of sail.

1883.  Cleland, Inchbracken, xi. 88. Ducking me in burns till I haven’t a dry stitch on my back!

1885.  Marq. Dufferin, in Lyall, Life (1905), II. 74. A mass of human beings with scarcely a stitch on their bodies.

  11.  A good stitch: a considerable distance (in walking). dial.

1684.  Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 148. You have gone a good stitch, you may well be a weary; sit down.

1901.  F. E. Taylor, Folk-Speech S. Lancs. (E.D.D.), He’s come a lung stitch.

  12.  jocular. A tailor. Also man of stitches.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Stitch, a Tayler.

1809.  T. Donaldson, Poems, 32. Had ye but tauk’d about the yarn, The needle, or the clout, Then Stitch an’ I had try’d to learn To gien ye word about.

c. 1848.  J. Keegan, Leg. & Poems (1907), 466. There being no other rival ‘stitch’ in the neighbourhood, Dandy thought he might … ‘set up’ in his defunct master’s place.

1871.  B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. v. 91. He called his man of stitches, The tailor came straightway.

  III.  13. Comb., as stitch-hole; stitch-like adj.; stitch-bird, Pogonornis cincta of New Zealand, the clicking note of which has a fancied resemblance to the word ‘stitch’; † stitch-broth, some kind of mulled beverage (? for curing stitches); † stitch-dropped a., said of knitted work in which one or more stitches have been dropped; similarly † stitch-fallen (in quot. fig.); stitch-man, a workman employed in stitching (now esp. shoes); stitch-wheel, a toothed wheel used for marking equidistant holes for stitching leather; = PRICKER 4 b (g); stitch-while, in phr. every stitch-while, every moment, at brief intervals (now dial.); stitch-work, embroidery, tapestry.

1873.  W. L. Buller, Birds New Zeal., 93. Pogonornis cincta. (*Stitch-bird.)

1635.  Heywood, Philocothonista, 48. We have moreover … *Stitch-broth brew’d with rose-water and Sugar, Burn’d-Sacke, Burn’d-Wine, Muld-Wine; [etc.].

1834.  Tait’s Mag., I. 631/1. The *stitch-dropped stocking.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal, X. 309. A *stitch-fal’n Cheek, that hangs below the Jaw.

1898.  J. T. Fowler, in Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 114. A small membrane with *stitch-holes at the foot.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 162. *Stitch-like pains in the right side of the chest.

1710.  in Jrnl. Brit. Archæol. Assoc. (1868), XXIV. 331. *Stitchmen. [The name given to the association of tailors, mercers, drapers, cappers, hatters, glovers, and skinners of Ludlow.]

1844.  Mechanics’ Mag., XL. 42. (Shoemaking) The English workman, who, as a stitchman, is far superior to the French.

1894.  Daily News, 22 Sept., 6/7. The defendant was … a stitchman, of Northampton.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stitch-wheel.

1620.  Shelton, 2nd Pt. Quix., xi. 63. Rozinante … perceiuing the libertie he had, stayed euery *stitch-while [a cada paso] to feede vpon the greene grasse.

1896.  Warwicksh. Gloss., s.v., It teks me every stitchwhile to keep them children’s clothes tidy.

1848.  Lytton, Harold, IX. i. The notable *‘stitchwork’ of Matilda the Duchess.

1863.  Hawthorne, Old Home, Civic Banq., II. 247. They [sc. tapestry figures] … vanish drearily into the old stitch-work of their substance when you try to make them out.