Search the Dictionary

ixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, esp. upon an old garment to cover a hole. Patches set upon a little breach. Shak.

One who patches or botches. Foxe.

Botchery; covering of defects; bungling; hypocrisy. [R.] Shak.

Knavishy; deceitfully. [Obs.]

A mintlike plant (Pogostemon Patchouli) of the East Indies, yielding an essential oil from which a highly valued perfume is made.

Work composed of pieces sewed together, esp. pieces of various colors and figures; hence, anything put together of incongruous or ill-adapted parts; something irregularly clumsily composed; a thing putched up. Swift.

Full of, or covered with, patches; abounding in patches.

An ill-natured person. [Colloq.] "Crosspatch, draw the latch." Mother Goose.

Same as Dispatch.

quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform. Ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we The business we have talked of. Shak. [The] harvest men . . . almost in one fair day dispatcheth all the harvest work. Robynson (More's Utopia).

One who dispatches.

aste; intent on speedy execution of business or any task; indicating haste; quick; as, dispatchful looks. Milton.

The act of dispatching. [Obs.] State Trials (1529).

The common English periwinkle. [Prov. Eng.]

See Spitchcock.

An official who gives the orders on a railroad as to the running of trains and their right of way.

ng to perform a specific illegal act. Wharton. Advice boat, a vessel employed to carry dispatches or to reconnoiter; a dispatch boat. -- To take advice. (a) To accept advice. (b) To consult with another or others.

Advice; counsel; suggestion; also, a dispatch or advice boat. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

The process of becoming white, or developing white patches, or streaks.

A patch; an addition; a piece put on. [Obs.] John Lewis (1731).