hitch
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //hɪt͡ʃ//
A sudden pull.
noun
- 1
A sudden pull.
- 2
Any of various knots used to attach a rope to an object other than another rope.
- 3
A fastener or connection point, as for a trailer.
His truck sported a heavy-duty hitch for his boat.
- 4
informalA problem, delay or source of difficulty.
The banquet went off without a hitch
The service operated according to plan on the Monday morning with only a few hitches.
Over the next week, the hitch in my dad's stride eased a bit. But we'd run out of things to talk about.
- 5
A hidden or unfavorable condition or element.
The deal sounds too good to be true. What's the hitch?
- 6
slangA period of time spent in the military.
She served two hitches in Vietnam.
U.S. TROOPS FACE LONGER ARMY HITCH; SOLDIERS BOUND FOR IRAQ, ... WILL BE RETAINED
- 7
A large Californian minnow, Lavinia exilicauda.
- 8
A hole cut into the wall of a mine on which timbers are rested.
An upcast fault is when the seam is thrown up; to counteract this a "canch" of top stone must be taken down outbye over from the fault, and a "canch" of bottom stone taken up inbye over from the fault, then level up to the bottom of your "canch" at the foreside of the hitch outbye over until you have a regular gradient to the seam on the hitch.
A coal cutter and conveyor is used along the face, and after each cut the hitch had to be crossed at a new point.
Etymology
Probably from Middle English hicchen, hytchen, icchen (“to move; to move as with a jerk”), of obscure origin. Lacks cognates in other languages. Compare itch, hike.
verb
- 1
To pull with a jerk.
She hitched her jeans up and then tightened her belt.
- 2
To attach, tie or fasten.
He hitched the bedroll to his backpack and went camping.
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.
The company has hitched its future to artificial intelligence — whether with its voice-enabled digital assistant or its automated placement of advertising for marketers — as the breakthrough technology to make the next generation of services and devices smarter and more capable.
- 3
informalTo marry oneself to; especially to get hitched.
- 4
To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling.
atoms[…]which at length hitched together
- 5
To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded.
Frank’s breath hitched in his throat when he saw the knife being pointed at him.
[object Object]
To ease themselves […] by hitching into another place.
- 6
To strike the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.
Stolen[…]A brown Gelding[…]all his paces, and hitches a little in his pace.
- 7
Variant of hitchhikeinformalClipping of hitchhike, to thumb a ride.
to hitch a ride
A dog losing the trail on foot in the wilderness is one thing, but a trail that suddenly stops in a place where vehicles regularly idle, and strangers pass through, suggests Bryce may have hitched a ride.
Forms
- plural
- hitches
- past tense
- hitched
- past participle
- hitched
- present participle
- hitching
- third person singular
- hitches