Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Hitch

1. To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling. Atoms . . . Which at length hitched together. (South)

2. To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded. Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme. (Pope) To ease themselves . . . By hitching into another place. (Fuller)

3. To hit the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.

Origin: cf. Scot. Hitch a motion by a jerk, and hatch, hotch, to move by jerks, also Prov. G. Hiksen, g. Hinken, to limp, hobble; or E. Hiccough; or possibly akin to E. Hook.

1. A catch; anything that holds, as a hook; an impediment; an obstacle; an entanglement.

2. The act of catching, as on a hook, etc.

3. A stop or sudden halt; a stoppage; an impediment; a temporary obstruction; an obstacle; as, a hitch in one's progress or utterance; a hitch in the performance.

4. A sudden movement or pull; a pull up; as, the sailor gave his trousers a hitch.

5. A knot or noose in a rope which can be readily undone; intended for a temporary fastening; as, a half hitch; a clove hitch; a timber hitch, etc.

6. (Science: geology) a small dislocation of a bed or vein.