Other forms: stitches, stitched, stitching
A stitch is one loop of thread in sewn or knitted cloth. Small stitches, drop a stitch, put in a few stitches.
In medicine, stitches are what closes a wound: he had six stitches, get the stitches out. In knitting, different stitches have names — knit, purl, cable — and the plural means the loops on the needle. There is also a stitch meaning a sharp pain in the side from running, which is a completely separate sense. Note a stitch in time saves nine, meaning a small repair now prevents a large one later, and in stitches, meaning laughing helplessly.
1nounstitchOne loop of thread in sewing or knitting.
“The stitches are so small you can barely see them.”
2nouncloseA loop of thread used to close a wound.
“He had four stitches above the eye.”
3nounsharpA sharp pain in the side, from running.
“She got a stitch about halfway round.”
4verbsewTo sew.
“The lining was stitched by hand.”
stitch is a loop of thread.
Old English stice meant a prick or a stab, from a root meaning to pierce — the same root as stick, stake and, at a distance, instigate. A stitch is named for the needle going in, not for the thread staying there.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)teyg- — to stab, pierce
Proto-Germanic
*stikiz — prick, piercing, stitch
Proto-West Germanic
*stiki
Old English
stiċe — a prick, puncture, stab, thrust with a pointed implement, pricking sensation, stitch, pain in the side, sting
Middle English
stiche
English, today
stitch
From Middle English stiche, from Old English stiċe (“a prick, puncture, stab, thrust with a pointed implement, pricking sensation, stitch, pain in the side, sting”), from Proto-West Germanic stiki, from Proto-Germanic stikiz (“prick, piercing, stitch”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)teyg- (“to stab, pierce”). Cognate with Dutch steek (“prick, stitch”), German Stich (“a prick, piercing, stitch”), Old English stician (“to stick, stab, pierce, prick”). More at stick. Via PIE cognate with Czech steh, Polish ścieg, Russian стежо́к.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA