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stitch
go through-stitch
To follow through or finish something. My brother has a hard time sticking with the things he starts, but he seems to enjoy football—maybe he'll go through-stitch with it.
a stitch in time (saves nine)
An action taken now will prevent problems later. You should consider getting your car repaired now before you're left stranded on the side of the road—a stitch in time saves nine. I know it's a month away, but I already started preparing for the big dinner party. A stitch in time, you know.
in stitches
Fig. laughing very hard. Charlie had us in stitches with all his jokes. The movie sure was funny. I was in stitches!
keep someone in stitches
Fig. to cause someone to laugh loud and hard, for a period of time. The comedian kept us in stitches for nearly an hour. The teacher kept the class in stitches, but the students didn't learn anything.
not have a stitch of clothes (on)
Fig. naked. He walked through the house and didn't have a stitch of clothes on.
stitch in time saves nine
Prov. If you fix a small problem right away, it will not become a bigger problem later. Let's patch the roof before that hole gets bigger. A stitch in time saves nine.
stitch something onto something
and stitch something onto sew something onto the surface of something else. Fred stitched the badge onto his jacket. Fred stitched on the badge.
stitch something up
to sew something together; to mend a tear or ripped seam. I tore my shirt. Would you stitch it up, please? Please stitch up my shirt.
in stitches
laughing so much that it is difficult to control yourself The movie will keep you in stitches from beginning to end.
A stitch in time (saves nine).
something that you say which means it is better to deal with a problem early before it gets too bad If you don't repair the oil leak now, you might damage the whole engine. It's a case of a stitch in time.
have somebody in stitches
(informal) to make someone laugh a lot She told a couple of jokes that had us all in stitches.
in stitches
Laughing uncontrollably, as in Joke after joke had me in stitches. Although the precise idiom dates only from about 1930, Shakespeare had a similar expression in Twelfth Night (3:2): "If you desire the spleen, and will laugh yourselves into stitches, follow me." Stitches here refers to the sharp local pain (known as a stitch in the side) that can make one double over, much as a fit of laughter can.
stitch in time, a
A prompt action will avert more serious trouble. For example, Changing the car's oil every 7,000 miles is a stitch in time. The complete form of this adage, a stitch in time saves nine, appeared in Thomas Fuller's 1732 proverb collection, Gnomologia, and is so well known that it often is stated in shortened form. Ogden Nash played with it in the title for his verse collection, A Stitch Too Late Is My Fate (1938).
without a stitch on
Naked, as in They let their baby run around outside without a stitch on. A related phrase is not have a stitch on. These expressions use stitch in the sense of "a piece of clothing," a usage dating from the early 1800s.
stitch up
v.1. To mend or repair something with or as if with stitches: The tailor stitched up the rip in the jacket. The cut over my eye was deep, but the doctor stitched it up in a matter of minutes.
2. To reach some official agreement: I've stitched up a deal with my mechanic so that I pay only for parts and not labor. The agreement was easy to make; we stitched it up in a day.
a stitch
1. n. a very funny person. Harry is a stitch. What a sense of humor!
2. n. a sharp pain, usually in the side. I got a stitch and had to drop out of the marathon.
in stitches
Informal Laughing uncontrollably.