Patch

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Patch \Patch\ (p[a^]ch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Patched}
     (p[a^]cht); p. pr. & vb. n. {Patching}.]
     1. To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather,
        or the like; as, to patch a coat.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. To mend with pieces; to repair with pieces festened on; to
        repair clumsily; as, to patch the roof of a house.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To adorn, as the face, with a patch or patches.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Ladies who patched both sides of their faces.
                                                    --Spectator.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To make of pieces or patches; to repair as with patches;
        to arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner; -- generally with
        up; as, to patch up a truce. "If you'll patch a quarrel."
        --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Patch \Patch\, n. [OE. pacche; of uncertain origin, perh. for
     placche; cf. Prov. E. platch patch, LG. plakk, plakke.]
     1. 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Patches set upon a little breach.     --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence: A small piece of anything used to repair a breach;
        as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A small piece of black silk stuck on the face, or neck, to
        hide a defect, or to heighten beauty.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Your black patches you wear variously. --Beau. & Fl.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Gun.) A piece of greased cloth or leather used as
        wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. Fig.: Anything regarded as a patch; a small piece of
        ground; a tract; a plot; as, scattered patches of trees or
        growing corn.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Employed about this patch of ground.  --Bunyan.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Mil.) A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the
        effect of dispart, in sighting.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. A paltry fellow; a rogue; a ninny; a fool. [Obs. or
        Colloq.] "Thou scurvy patch." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Patch ice}, ice in overlapping pieces in the sea.
  
     {Soft patch}, a patch for covering a crack in a metallic
        vessel, as a steam boiler, consisting of soft material, as
        putty, covered and held in place by a plate bolted or
        riveted fast.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  patch
       n 1: 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" [syn: {spot}, {speckle}, {dapple},
             {fleck}, {maculation}]
       2: a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation; "a
          bean plot"; "a cabbage patch"; "a briar patch" [syn: {plot},
           {plot of ground}]
       3: a piece of cloth used as decoration or to mend or cover a
          hole
       4: 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" [syn: {while}, {piece},
           {spell}]
       5: a short set of commands to correct a bug in a computer
          program
       6: a connection intended to be used for a limited time [syn: {temporary
          hookup}]
       7: sewing or darning that repairs a worn or torn hole
          (especially in a garment); "her stockings had several
          mends" [syn: {mend}, {darn}]
       8: a protective cloth covering for an injured eye [syn: {eyepatch}]
       9: a piece of soft material that covers and protects an injured
          part of the body [syn: {bandage}]
       v 1: to join or unite the pieces of; "patch the skirt" [syn: {piece}]
       2: provide with a patch; also used metaphorically; "The field
          was patched with snow"
       3: mend by putting a patch on; "patch a hole" [syn: {patch up}]
       4: repair by adding pieces; "She pieced the china cup" [syn: {piece}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  268 Moby Thesaurus words for "patch":
     Hershey bar, X ray, actinic ray, actinism, area, atomic beam,
     atomic ray, aviation badge, badge, bailiwick, bar, bat out, beam,
     beam of light, birthmark, blaze, blemish, block, bloodstain, blot,
     blotch, blur, botch, brand, bring to terms, bungle,
     bury the hatchet, caste mark, check, checkmark, chevron, chicken,
     chip, cicatrix, clearing, clos, close, cobble, come to terms,
     commission, condition, corn field, cover, croft, crumb,
     cultivated land, cut, dab, dapple, dappledness, dappleness, darn,
     dash off, daub, discoloration, do anyhow, do by halves,
     do carelessly, do offhand, do up, doctor, dot, dottedness, eagle,
     earmark, enclave, engraving, epaulet, episode, experience, eyesore,
     fake up, field, fix, fix up, fleck, flick, flyspeck, forty,
     freckle, freckliness, fudge up, gamma ray, gash, gleam, graving,
     ground, hack, hash mark, hayfield, heal, improvise, infrared ray,
     insignia of branch, interval, invisible radiation, jot, jury-rig,
     knock off, knock out, knock together, knock up, kraal, lash up,
     leam, lentigo, lot, macula, maculation, macule, mark, marking,
     mend, mole, morceau, morsel, mottle, mottledness, nevus, nick, nip,
     notch, oak leaf, organization insignia, overhaul, overseas bar,
     pad, paddy, pale, parachute badge, parcel, parcel of land,
     patch together, patch up, pencil, period, photon, piece,
     piece of land, pip, plat, plot, plot of ground, point, pointillage,
     pointillism, polka dot, pound out, prick, puncture,
     put in commission, put in order, put in repair, put in shape, quad,
     quadrangle, radiation, radiorays, ray, ray of light, ready,
     real estate, rebuild, recap, reconcile, recondition, reconstruct,
     reinforce, reinforcement, repair, resolve, responsibility, retread,
     revamp, ribbon, ribbon of light, rice paddy, rough out, roughcast,
     roughhew, scar, scarification, score, scotch, scrap, scratch,
     scratching, section, segment, service, service stripe, set right,
     set straight, set to rights, settle, sew up, shiver,
     shoulder patch, shoulder sleeve insignia, shred, slap up, sliver,
     smear, smirch, smithereen, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, snick,
     snip, snippet, solar rays, spatter, speck, speckle, speckliness,
     spell, splash, splatter, splinter, splotch, spot, spottedness,
     spottiness, spread eagle, square, stage, stain, star, stigma,
     stipple, stippledness, stippling, stitch, straighten out,
     strawberry mark, streak, stream, stream of light, streamer, stripe,
     submarine badge, tag, taint, tarnish, tatter, tattoo, tattoo mark,
     territory, throw off, throw together, tick, time, tinker,
     tinker up, tittle, toss off, toss out, toss together, tract,
     trifle with, ultraviolet ray, vamp, violet ray, watermark,
     wheat field, whomp up
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  patch 1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a
     {quick-and-dirty} remedy to an existing bug or misfeature. A patch may
     or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated
     permanently into the program. Distinguished from a {diff} or {mod} by
     the fact that a patch is generated by more primitive means than the rest
     of the program; the classical examples are instructions modified by
     using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to the binary
     executable of a program originally written in an {HLL}. Compare
     {one-line fix}. 2. vt. To insert a patch into a piece of code. 3. [in
     the Unix world] n. A {diff} (sense 2). 4. A set of modifications to
     binaries to be applied by a patching program. IBM operating systems
     often receive updates to the operating system in the form of absolute
     hexadecimal patches. If you have modified your OS, you have to
     disassemble these back to the source. The patches might later be
     corrected by other patches on top of them (patches were said to "grow
     scar tissue"). The result was often a convoluted {patch space} and
     headaches galore. 5. [Unix] the `patch(1)' program, written by Larry
     Wall, which automatically applies a patch (sense 3) to a set of source
     code.
  
     There is a classic story of a {tiger team} penetrating a secure
     military computer that illustrates the danger inherent in binary patches
     (or, indeed, any patches that you can't -- or don't -- inspect and
     examine before installing). They couldn't find any {trap door}s or any
     way to penetrate security of IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an
     IBM office (remember, these were official military types who were
     purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery, and
     created a fake patch. The patch was actually the trapdoor they needed.
     The patch was distributed at about the right time for an IBM patch, had
     official stationery and all accompanying documentation, and was
     dutifully installed. The installation manager very shortly thereafter
     learned something about proper procedures.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  patch
       
           1. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually
          as a {quick-and-dirty} remedy to an existing {bug} or
          {misfeature}.  A patch may or may not work, and may or may not
          eventually be incorporated permanently into the program.
          Distinguished from a {diff} or {mod} by the fact that a patch
          is generated by more primitive means than the rest of the
          program; the classical examples are instructions modified by
          using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to
          the binary executable of a program originally written in an
          {HLL}.  Compare {one-line fix}.
       
          2. To insert a patch into a piece of code.
       
          3. [in the Unix world] A {diff}.
       
          4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a
          patching program.  {IBM} systems often receive updates to the
          {operating system} in the form of absolute {hexadecimal}
          patches.  If you have modified your OS, you have to
          disassemble these back to the {source code}.  The patches
          might later be corrected by other patches on top of them
          (patches were said to "grow scar tissue").  The result was
          often a convoluted {patch space} and headaches galore.
       
          There is a classic story of a {tiger team} penetrating a
          secure military computer that illustrates the danger inherent
          in binary patches (or, indeed, any patches that you can't - or
          don't - inspect and examine before installing).  They couldn't
          find any {trap doors} or any way to penetrate security of
          IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an IBM office
          (remember, these were official military types who were
          purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery,
          and created a fake patch.  The patch was actually the trapdoor
          they needed.  The patch was distributed at about the right
          time for an IBM patch, had official stationery and all
          accompanying documentation, and was dutifully installed.  The
          installation manager very shortly thereafter learned something
          about proper procedures.
       
          5. {Larry Wall}'s "patch" utility, which automatically applies
          a patch to a set of {source code} or other text files.  It
          accepts input in any of the four forms output by the {Unix}
          {diff} utility and uses many helpful {heuristics} to determine
          how to apply them.
       
          Diff and patch are the standard way of producing and applying
          updates to {Unix} files ditributed via {Usenet} and the
          {Internet}, both have been ported to other {operating
          systems}.
       
          See your nearest {GNU archive site}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1996-06-04)