Forms: 3 stic(c)hen, (3rd sing. stihð, pa. t. sing. stiȝte, pl. stihten, pa. pple. istihd), 6 sty(t)che, sti(t)che, stech(e, Sc. stik(e, 7–8 stich, 6– stitch. Also STEEK v.3 [f. STITCH sb.1; cf. (M)LG., MDu. sticken (mod.Du. stikken), OHG. sticchen (mod.G. sticken).]
I. To prick, stab.
† 1. trans. To stab, pierce; transf. to afflict with a ‘stitch’ or sharp sudden pain. Also fig. Also thorough-stitch. Obs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 272. Heo þuruh stihten Isboset adun into schere…. Þe ueond þuruh stihð þet scher hwon delit of lecherie þurleð þe heorte.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 9. Nat tah na mon bute ham self hwat ham sticheð ofte.
c. 1250. Hymn to Virgin, i. 53, in Trin. Coll. Hom., App. 257. Þe ne stiȝte, ne þe ne priȝte, in side, in lende, ne elles where.
1525. trans. Brunswyke’s Handywork Surg., xl. I ij b. The mouth is somtyme hewen that the cheeke hangeth of,… and somtyme it is stytched with a dagger, or with a spere.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. Furies, 604. And in the end stitcht full of stings he dies.
c. 1620. Z. Boyd, Zion’s Flowers (1855), 91. I must by and by, Stitcht full of stings With paine lye downe and dye.
† b. To make (a wound) by stabbing. Obs.
1527. Andrew, Brunswyke’s Distyll. Waters, F j b. The same water heleth very well all fresshe woundes where they be hewen or stytched.
2. ? To make (the ‘eye’ or hole in a mill-stone) by piercing with a pick.
c. 1900. Trade Circular, Millstone Tools, Mill Picks for stitching eyes, peak stones, &c.
II. To fasten or adorn with stitches.
3. trans. To fasten together or join (pieces of textile material, leather, etc.) by stitches; to make or mend (a garment, etc.) by thus joining its parts. Also with together; for stitch up see 9 a.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 424. Hore hesmel beo heie istihd [MS. C. Hare cop beo hecʓe i-sticched].
1525. trans. Brunswyke’s Handywork Surg., xiii. C iij b. Whan ye cloutis be well drye, than sowe them or styche them togeder.
1530. Palsgr., 736/2. I stytche, as a taylour doth a garment.
1587. Mascall, Cattle, Horses (1596), 119. The Carter ought to haue skill how to mend his harnaise, to stitch and sow it when any part or parcell thereof decayeth.
1709. W. King, Art of Love, VI. 784. Full many a feather With twine of thread he stitch’d together.
1709. T. Baker, Mrs. Centlivre’s Busie Body, Prol., 20.
| Court Ladies will to Country Seats be gone, | |
| My Lord can’t all the Year live Great in Town; | |
| Where wanting Opera’s, Basset, and a Play, | |
| They’ll sigh, and stitch a Gown, to pass the time away. |
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XII. 359. The forger of that shield … with thickest hides throughout Had lined it, stitch’d with circling wires of gold.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. lxi. Two blankets stitch’d together, answering ill Instead of sail.
1850. Mechanics’ Mag., LII. 195. The thread is passed through the eye of the needle, and the fabric to be stitched placed between the wheels, to which rotary motion is communicated.
1885. J. B. Leno, Boot & Shoemaking, 144. When stitching strong work, run a piece of rag to which soap or beeswax has been applied, round the welt.
fig. 1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., III. E 4 b. Honest musk-cod, twill not be so stitched together.
1629. Wotton, Lett. (1907), II. 318. Some think the Parliament doth yet hang upon a thread, and may be stitched again together.
b. Shoemaking. (See quot. 1895.)
1895. Hasluck, Boot Making, 57. Shoemakers call all work sewn that is treated with a round awl; while stitching is only technically applied where the square awl is used.
4. Surgery. To unite the edges of (a wound) by drawing stitches through the flesh. See also 9 b.
1580. Hester, trans. Fioravanti’s Disc. Chirurg., 12. The pleggits of Tow which is layd vpon woundes when they are first stitched.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 262/1. Fibula,… a kind of instrument wherewith a wound is stitched and drawne together.
1676. Wiseman, Chirurg. Treat., V. viii. 372. It may be reasonable to lay open the Wound, and stitch the Gut with the Glovers Stitch.
5. Bookbinding. To fasten together (a number of sheets or sections) by passing the thread or wire through all the sheets at once. Occas. with up, together. Distinguished from sew: see SEW v.1 1 e.
1566. Star Chamber Decree, in Arber, Transcr. Stationers’ Reg. (1875), I. 322. No person shall … put to sale, bind, stitch, or sowe, anie such Bookes or Copies.
a. 1670. Hacket, Life Abp. Williams, I. (1693), 159. The Collection of all the precedent Passages were gathered by that Lord himself, and stitched up into one Book.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 529, ¶ 2. All Pamphlets, or Works that are only stitched.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., Pref. As soon as I became possessed of my first volume, neatly stitched up and boarded.
1912. Lady F. Balfour, Life J. MacGregor, 270. His sermons were stitched … by his own hands.
6. To fasten or attach (something) by sewing. Const. to; also in, into, on, upon. Also with adv., as on, in.
1530. Palsgr., 736/1. I stytche, I fastyn one thyng to another with stytches of nedyll and threde, je affiche. Ibid., 736/2. Stytche on thys claspe better, affichez ceste agraffe mieulx.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 56. Within doors they cover their head with a Cap of red cloth,… to the middle whereof they stitch a round of Pearles.
1833. [S. Smith], Lett. J. Downing, xxii. (1835), 131. I sot down behind him, and stitched on the button in three minits.
1857. Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, i. 32. Those stupid tailors’ ’prentices who are always stitching the sleeves in wrong way upwards.
1883. S. Chappel, Sewing Machine, 20. It makes a very neat trimming which may afterwards be stitched on to any article as desired.
fig. 1589. Pappe w. Hatchet (1844), 35. Stitch charitie to thy faith, or rip faith from thy works.
1591. Lyly, Endimion, I. i. My thoughts Eumenides are stitched to the starres.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 540. Unto his glorious exploits they stitched also ridiculous miracles.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Horace’s Art Poet., 19. Ye have oft-times, that may o’er-shine the rest, A Scarlet Piece, or two, stitch’d in.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xii. I’se warrant he’ll stitch our auld lands of Ravenswood to her petticoat tail.
a. 1901. F. W. H. Myers, Human Personality (1903), I. 11. Stitching the threadbare metaphysical arguments into a more stable fabric.
b. To enclose in or into a cover or receptacle secured by stitching. Also with away. Cf. 9 c.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxxii. She stitched away the major part of her trinkets, bills, and bank-notes about her person.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, ix. I had nigh a thousand pounds’ worth stitched in my belt.
7. To ornament with stitches; to embroider.
c. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 69. She … gyrdeth in her gytes Stytched and pranked with pletes.
1535. in Archæologia, IX. 248. Three cootys of grene clothe styched with grene silke.
1570. Levins, Manip., 150/26. To stitche, acu pingere.
1641. Invent. Goods C’tess Arundel, in Burlington Mag. (1912), Jan., 235/2. Seauen Peeces of Indian Twilt hangings stitcht. with Orenge Coloe silke.
1710. Sibbald, Fife & Kinross, I. viii. 34. Wearing White Shirts, stitcht with Red Silk, upon their Armour.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. viii. Tricolor stitched by their own needle.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, i. 2. Its button-holes stitched with red.
8. absol. and intr. To make stitches; to work with a needle and thread. To stitch away, to go on sewing energetically.
1697. De Foe, Ess. Projects, 282. To teach them [Women] to Stitch and Sow, or make Bawbles.
1712. Motteux, 2nd Pt. Quix., xliii. (1749), IV. 62. Go on, go on, friend, said Don Quixote, thread, tack, stitch on, heap proverb on proverb, out with ’em, man, spew them out.
1843. Hood, Song of Shirt, i. Stitch! stitch! stitch!
1853. Motley, in O. W. Holmes, Life (1878), 72. There is nothing for it but to penelopize, pull to pieces and stitch away again.
1853. Mrs. Gaskell, Ruth, i. More than a dozen girls sat in the room … stitching away as if for very life.
1865. Flor. Marryat, Love’s Confl., I. viii. 128. She took her work and … stitched in silence.
9. Stitch up. trans. (See also 5.)
a. To make or put together by sewing; sometimes with implication of hasty or inferior work. Also fig.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apol., C 3 b. By the end I haue giuen the Welch-man to his All, he may stitch vp his Euerie when it pleaseth him.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. ii. 724. Did no Committee sit, where he [the Devil] Might cut out journy-work for thee … To stitch up sale and sequestration?
1701. Steele, Funeral, V. i. She has out of Impatience to see her self in her Weeds, order’d her Mantua-Woman to stich up any thing immediately.
b. To close (an orifice, a wound), to mend (a rent), by sewing the edges together. Also fig.
1580. Hester, trans. Fioravanti’s Disc. Chirurg., 35 b. Then hee was caryed to a Chyrurgian, and hee stitched him vp.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. v. § 6 (1912), 182. It is in your hand as well to stitch up his life againe, as it was before to rent it.
1643. Baker, Chron., Stephen, 68. Seeking to stitch up the breaches which the violence of warre had made.
1657. Penit. Conf., xi. 307. Be sure of the Confessor, his mouth is stitched up.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., Wks. 1716, I. 183. No thread can stitch up a good name torn by calumnious defamation.
1679. J. Yonge, Currus Triumph., 79. I dressed him with hot Ol. Terebinth, which restraining the flux, gave me opportunity to stitch up the wound.
1712. Motteux, Quix., IV. iii. (1749), II. 29. I am sure he would rather have stitch’d up his lips, or bit off his tongue, than have spoken a word, that should make him incur your displeasure.
c. To enclose in a cover or receptacle and secure it by sewing. Also fig.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., Ded. Peace stichd vp in a Gaberdine without pleat or wrinckle.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxix. (1856), 254. I had this journal of mine stitched up in its tarred canvas-bag.
d. To tighten or confine (a fabric) by sewing the parts closer together.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, xi. (ed. 3), 207. He hired a Taylor to stitch up the Collar so close, that it was ready to choak him.
e. ? To strengthen with extra stitches.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 92. The seams of courses and topsails are stuck or stitched up, in the middle of the seams, along the whole length, with double seaming-twine.
