| 释义 |
▪ I. hitch, v.|hɪtʃ|
Forms: 5–6 hyche, hytche, hich, 6– hitch.
[In Promp. Parv., 1440, hytche-n; in 16–17th c. also without h, see itch v.2; app. identical in sense with early ME. icche-n. If these are in origin the same word, it is equally difficult to explain the loss of h in the one, and its addition in the other form. In some uses hitch is equivalent in sense to Sc. and north. hotch, with which, if the h is original, it may be radically cognate. No related word appears in the cognate langs. The connexion of branches I and II is also uncertain.
(There does not appear to be any ground for connecting it with hick- in hicket, hiccup.)]
I. To move jerkily.
1. a. trans. To move (anything) as with a jerk, or in an abrupt or discontinuous manner; to shift (a thing) a little away or aside.
c1440Promp. Parv. 239/2 Hytchyn, or remevyn (K. hychyn, P. hytchen, J., W. hythen), amoveo, moveo, removeo. a1529Skelton E. Rummyng 401 Another than dyd hyche her, And brought a pottel pycher. 1639Fuller Holy War i. xxiii. (1840) 38 Jerusalem..hath somewhat altered her situation, having hitched herself more north⁓westward. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 122 That the spring of the Watch..should by its bear or elasticity hitch it forwards. 1849C. Brontë Shirley ix, Hitching his chair nearer the fire. 1884Gilmour Mongols 256 Hitching him⁓self round..looking at me.
b. esp. To raise or lift with a jerk. Usually with up. orig. Naut.
1833Marryat P. Simple li, So saying, Swinburne hitched up his trowsers, and went down below. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Misadv. Margate xix, And then he hitch'd his trousers up, as is, I'm told, their use. 1861Miss Tytler Pap. Thoughtf. Girls (1863) 38 Over-prominent shoulderblades, which she had not given over hitching awkwardly. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. i, She hitched this chin up. 1869Blackmore Lorna D. iii, She..hitched her dress.
2. fig.
a. To move or lift as by a jerk into some position; spec. to put (as by an effort) into a story, into verse, or the like; to insert or mention in a literary work, esp. by way of exposure or ridicule. Sometimes app. associated with sense 5.
1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. i, Hitch him in distich. 1779Sheridan Critic i. i, Now we must appear loving and affectionate, or Sneer will hitch us into a story. 1779J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 355 If..the letter should be caught and hitched into a newspaper, the world would say I was not to be trusted with a secret. 1788V. Knox Winter Even. I. ii. xiii. 196 The most exalted persons..cruelly hitched in a rhyme, and thrown out to the vulgar. 1805W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 58 Our endowed free schools..keep down the price of education..and they hitch into genteel life a number of young men, who are lost to industry. 1889Serj. Robinson Bench & Bar 305 A few words hitched in here regarding barristers' clerks may not be thought out of place.
b. intr. for pass.
1733Pope Hor. Sat. ii. i. 78 Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, Sacred to Ridicule his whole life long. a1797Mason Dean & Squire (R.), I ask his pardon. At the time He chanc'd to hitch into my rhyme. 1805Foster Ess. iv. v. 185 note, Names that may more commodiously hitch into verse.
3. a. intr. To shift one's position a little; to move with a jerk or succession of jerks.
1629T. Adams Serm. Rev. vi. 16 Wks. 758 When..the place of their hope became an Iland, loe now they hitch vp higher to the toppes of the tallest trees. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. ii. §52 To ease themselves a little, by hitching into another place. 18..W. Taylor in Ann. Rev., The Belgæ..were hitching westward to make room for the Goths. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. xii. VIII. 35 Slow Fermor..began hitching southward, southward gradually to Posen.
b. To jerk the body up and down; to hotch.
1510–20Compl. too late maryed (1862) 8 Mo gallantes..ren After a wentche, and lepe and hytche, Than dogges do about a faroweiye bytche. 1571Satir. Poems Reform. xxix. 15 Quhat mervell than thochte chaist forett..Hichit on þe hure so oppinly? 1868H. Woodruff Trotting Horse iv. 59 When it was found that they began to hitch and hobble, a good let-up would do more to restore the stroke than anything else. 1889Century Mag. 907/2, I do not know what would happen to a man who ‘hitched’ in his saddle.
4. a. To walk unevenly or lamely; to hobble; also (dial.) to hop.
1513Douglas æneis iv. xi. 114 The tother..Hichit on furth with slaw pace lyke ane trat. a1605Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 395 Fra the how to the hight, some hobles, some hatches [? error for hitches; rimes ‘witches’, ‘bitches’]; With their mouthes to the moone, murgeons they maid. 1755Johnson, Hobble, to walk lamely or awkwardly upon one leg more than the other; to hitch. 1787Grose Prov. Gloss., Hitch, to move or walk. Norf. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. v, Surely also Punishment, this day, hitches (if she still hitch) after Crime, with frightful shoes-of-swiftness! 1868Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Hitch, to move a short distance in any direction; to hop. 1874Mrs. Whitney We Girls x. 214 She began to hitch along; for walk she wouldn't, and she didn't.
b. = hitch-hike v. Also trans., to hitch a lift, etc.: to obtain a lift in a vehicle.
1931‘B. Starke’ Touch & Go ix. 133 She told me she had hitched her way down to New Orleans a week before. Ibid. xii. 192 Two lads spoke to me, and asked if I were hitching it by myself. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 94 Hitch a lift, or ride. 1959‘G. Carr’ Swing Away, Climber i. 17 We hitched—got lifts, you know—from Birmingham. 1960Sunday Express 6 Nov. 7/5 The car in which he had hitched a lift crashed into a lorry. 1963Guardian 4 Feb. 6/5 They hitch there and back.
II. To fasten by something that catches.
5. a. trans. To catch as with a loop, noose, or hook; to fasten, esp. in a temporary way (and against force acting in one direction). Also fig.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. vii. 30 Hitch, is to catch hold of any thing with a rope to hold it fast, or with a hooke, as hitch the fish-hooke to the Anchors flooke, or the Tackles into the Garnets of the Slings. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 14/1 Little knobs..against which the ropes were hitched, to prevent their slipping. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. xxxiii, Hitching your knife in the gritty flaws of a black-lead pencil. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 75 Hitching our shawls in a bramble. 1835W. Irving Tour Prairies xix. 162 The hunter..hitches the running noose of the lariat over his [the wild horse's] head by means of the forked stick. 1844Regul. & Ord. Army 351 The tackle is to be hitched on, and the horse run up quickly. 1852Owen Invertebr. Anim. xiv. (1855) 303 Sometimes the crab hitches one of its claws into some crack or fissure. 1864Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 262 A stone under a glacier may be hitched or suspended in the ice itself for long spaces. 1870Gordon Bush Ball., Wolf & Hound 35, I hitched my mare to a tree. 1872Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon, Bells Ch. ii. 217 Bells are sometimes chimed by..hitching the rope round the flight or tail of the clapper. 1893Q. [Couch] Delect. Duchy 286 He..hitched this hat upon a peg in the wall.
b. fig. To catch, arrest (attention, etc.). rare.
a1764Lloyd Ruff. Poet Wks. 1774 I. 171 As gaudy signs, which hang before The tavern or the alehouse door, Hitch every passer's observation. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. xvi. (1869) 317 As if the mind were equally hitched in difficulties and distracted with doubts.
c. with up: To harness, yoke; absol. ‘To harness a horse to a vehicle, make ready for driving’ (Cent. Dict.). U.S. So hitch to. Austral.
1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Civiliz. ii. Wks. (Bohn) III. 11 Now that is the wisdom of a man..to hitch his waggon to a star. 1870E. E. Hale Ten Times One iv. (Cent.), He would hitch up at once and drive over to Elyria. 1880Earl of Dunraven in 19th Cent. Oct. 606 There was nothing for us to do but hitch up our teams and drive back to settlements. 1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 127 The three leaders was hitched to, and away we went.
d. to hitch horses together, also short, to hitch: to agree, get on well together, act in harmony. U.S. colloq.
1837–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 117 They [man and wife] don't hitch their horses together well at all. 1842Mrs. Clavers Forest Life I. 116 (Bartlett), I..have come to drive a spell for this old fellow, but I guess we shan't hitch long. a1860McClintock Tales (Bartlett), After he poked his fist in my face, one election, we never hitched horses together. 1862Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 283 An' so we fin'lly made it up, concluded to hitch horses.
e. pass. To be yoked; fig. to be married. U.S. Also to get hitched up, to be married, to become married (chiefly dial. and N.Z.).
1857Holland Bay Path xv. 172 Now and then a feller gets hitched to a hedge-hog [of a wife]. 1862A. Ward His Bk. x, If you mean gettin hitched, I'm in! 1890S. S. Buckman John Darke's Sojourn in Cotteswolds xxii, 'Twarn't long avor we got hitched up together. 1911‘Kiwi’ On Swag vii. 14 Elsie and I got ‘hitched up’. 1944J. H. Fullarton Troop Target iii. 24 That's the fifth o the old gang to get hitched up in five months.
6. intr. To become fastened or caught, esp. by hooking on; to be caught or stopped by some obstruction; to catch on something. Also fig.
1578Lyte Dodoens iv. xxx. 487 The leaues..ende with clasping tendrelles, whereby it hitcheth fast and taketh sure hold. 1633T. James Voy. 25 The Anker hitcht againe, and upon the chopping of a Sea, threw the men from the Capstang. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §167 note, We have had instances of the boat's gunnel hitching under a stone in the tackle. 1855W. Irving Tour Prairies xx, The lariat hitched on one of his ears, and he shook it off. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 583 My descent being arrested by a collection of brush brushwood and rubbish..which had hitched far down in the shaft.
fig.1781Cowper Conversation 108 Set your opinion at whatever pitch, Knots and impediments make something hitch. 1828Scott Jrnl. 18 Feb., Despatched all my sheriff processes, save one, which hitches for want of some papers. 1864Bagehot in Nat. Rev. Nov. 31 Their traits were indistinct; we forgot them, for they hitched on to nothing, and we could not classify them. 1891Newcastle Daily Jrnl. 23 Mar. 5/4 They want marriage..to be dissolved when one party tires of the other or desires to hitch on elsewhere.
7. Of a horse: To strike the feet together in going; to interfere. (Perh. related to 4. Cf. hitch n. 3.)
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2128/4 Stolen..A brown Gelding..all his paces, and hitches a little in his pace. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Hitch,..to knock the Legs in going as a Horse does.
Hence hitching vbl. n. (also attrib. as in hitching-bar, hitch-clamp, hitch-post, hitch-strap, hitch-weight, i.e. one used in tethering a horse); hitching ppl. a.
c1440Promp. Parv. 239/2 Hytchinge, or remevynge (v.rr. hichynge, hyhchynge), amocio, remocio. 1678Bunyan Welcome to Jesus in Pilgr. (Virtue) 379 The desire of his mind is not to be judged by the slow pace of the dull beast he rides, as by his hitching, kicking, and spurring. 1832Examiner 790/1 Nothing lets down a smart hit so lamentably as a hitching verse or hobbling rhyme. 1842J. L. Scott Jrnl. Missionary Tour Pennsylvania (1843) vi. 68 When at the door they alighted, and he rode off to the ‘hitching post’. 1852C. A. Bristed Upper Ten Thousand 67 [He] pulled a hitching-strap from under the seat, and fastened his off-horse very neatly to a lamp-post. 1871Mrs. Stowe Old Town Fireside Stories 84 All the hitchin'-posts was full clean up to the tavern. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 130 The sail is..laced to the yard with hitching turns. 1884Harper's Mag. Dec. 96/2 Every available hitching-post [for horses] in sight was taken. 1884W. D. Howells Silas Lapham xviii. 336 He got the hitching-weight from under the buggy seat and made it fast to the mare's bit. 1920J. Gregory Man to Man ix. 103 A dozen saddle-horses were tied at the hitching-rail. 1926J. Black You can't Win ix. 108, I..limped outside where I had an old ‘swift’ tied to a hitching rack. 1963Guardian 4 Feb. 6/3 At weekends hitching..is widely practised. 1963J. N. Harris Weird World Wes Beattie (1964) xviii. 216 ‘Oh, Gargoyle, darling,’ she said, sitting down on an old hitching block at the edge of the Rosedale pavement, ‘isn't it too gorgeous?’
▪ II. hitch, n.|hɪtʃ|
[f. prec. vb.]
1. a. A short abrupt movement, pull, or push; a jerk.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 122 Some minute or minutes more to bear on towards a second hitch. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. xii, Ben..gives his trousers one hitch, and calls for a quartern. 1847Ansted Anc. World xvi. 401 One more great movement of elevation..acting by successive and repeated hitches, each of small amount. 1862Carlyle Fredk. Gt. ix. xi. III. 186 Noailles..manœuvres him, hitch after hitch, out of Italy.
b. colloq. A little lift or push up; ‘temporary assistance; help through a difficulty’ (Ogilvie).
c. A catch in or a turn at wrestling.
1834H. M. Brackenridge Recoll. ix. 94 I'll stan iny mon a hitch in Butler county, if so be he'll clear me o' the la'. 1880Harper's Mag. Mar. 525 How with ‘ducking’ heads and muffled screams you..saw them scrambling for a ‘hitch’.
2. Mining. A slight fault or dislocation of strata.
1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 39 Sometimes a Pit may happen to haue a Hitch or Dipping of the Thill or Bottom of the way. 1789Brand Hist. Newcastle II. 679 note, A hitch is only a dike or fissure of a smaller degree. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 283/1 The dykes, if not large, are locally called troubles, slips, or hitches.
3. A limp, a hobble; an interference in a horse's pace. Cf. hitch v. 7.
1664G. Etherege Com. Rev. i. iii, I will as soon undertake to reclaim a horse from a hitch he has learned in his pace. 1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1748/4 A bay Mare..and hath a hitch in her Pace. 1704Steele Lying Lover i. i, With a pert Jirk forward, and little Hitch in my Gate like a Scholastick Beau. 1750Chesterfield Lett. (1774) III. 42 There is still a considerable hitch or hobble in your enunciation.
4. a. dial. The act of hopping; a hop: cf. hop n.2 3.
1799J. Jefferson Let. to J. Boucher 24 Jan. (MS.), I remember, when a boy, the playing at ‘hitch, step and jump’. 1807J. Stagg Poems 11 Hitch step an' loup some try'd.
b. = hitch-hike n. colloq.
1955Times 27 Aug. 7/4 They are not asked in the middle of doing 200 miles in four hours for a half-mile ‘hitch’. 1966J. Philips Wings of Madness (1967) ii. iv. 132, I came down by bus. I thought maybe you'd give me a hitch back.
5. a. The action of catching or fastening in a temporary way, as on a hook, etc.
1828in Webster.
b. A mode of harnessing a horse or team; a vehicle with its horse or team. U.S.
1876Rep. Vermont Board Agric. III. 143 If he can go best in one kind of a hitch, and, in that hitch, make the best time ever made by any horse. 1898Christian Herald (N.Y.) 2 Mar. 167/2 Several hitches are a mule and steer together. 1905Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republ. 22 Sept. 12 There were also several other creditable displays, both single and double hitches. 1912Mulford & Clay Buck Peters xxii. 201, I want a hitch of some kind,..something with speed and bottom, and the sooner the better.
6. a. A contrivance for fastening something, a catch.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Hitch..2. A hole cut in the side-rock, when this is solid enough, to hold the cap of a set of timbers, permitting the leg to be dispensed with.
b. (Chiefly Naut.) Applied to a noose or knot of various kinds, by which a rope is caught round or temporarily made fast to some object. See clove-hitch, diamond hitch, half-hitch, etc.
1769[see clove-hitch]. 1832Marryat N. Forster xiii, The monkey of a boy who made her fast..had made a ‘slippery hitch’, so away we went. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 1 What is an admiralty hitch used for? For setting up lower rigging, or heaving turns taut with a marling spike. 1867F. Francis Angling ii. (1880) 65 The float..is fastened on with two half hitches. 1888Century Mag. XXXVI. 202/2 An expert packer, versed in the mysteries of the ‘diamond hitch’, the only arrangement of the ropes that will insure a load staying in its place. 1894C. Phillipps-Wolley Gold in Cariboo 61 The diamond hitch had no mysteries for him, the loops flew out and settled to an inch where he wanted them to.
7. fig. An accidental or temporary stoppage, such as is caused by something suddenly getting caught or entangled; an impediment, obstruction.
1748H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) II. clxxxvii. 229 There seems to be some hitch in Legge's Embassy. I believe we were overhasty. 1794Ld. Malmesbury in 14th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 577 There was some hitch in the execution of our treaty. 1821J. W. Croker Diary 3 June in C. Papers (1884), There may be some hitch in the arrangement. 1872Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 172 When any hitch has arisen in the moral system of the human world. 1885Manch. Exam. 15 May 5/3 A hitch has occurred in regard to the Afghan boundary arrangement.
8. A period of service, e.g. in the armed forces. Chiefly U.S. slang.
1835Novascotian (Halifax) 12 Nov. 332/2 At last he said, which way are you from, Mr. Slick, this hitch. 1913Army & Navy Jrnl. Philippines 4 Oct. 15/1, I had to go or else re-up For seven long years hitch. 1955C. S. Forester Good Shepherd 24 He was new to the ship, a transfer made when they were in Reykjavik, serving his second hitch. 1957J. Kerouac On Road (1958) 257 Another hitch in prison and you'll be put away for life. 1959Listener 15 Oct. 607/1 Newspapermen who did a hitch in Britain during the war. 1973Washington Post 13 Jan. A3/2 In his work in intelligence, Pounder had many assignments, including a hitch as part of the White House security detail during President John F. Kennedy's Ireland trip.
9. Comb.: hitch and kick, hitch-kick, a form of high-kicking or long-jumping; hitch-knot = sense 6 b.
1898N.Y. Tribune 6 Sept. 9/4 Michael Sweeney, the well-known jumper, broke a world's record in the hitch-and-kick by one inch. 1931F. A. M. Webster Athletes in Action 155 Numerous men using the ‘hitch-kick’, or ‘mid-air-running’ style, have beaten 25 ft. 1957Duncan & Bone Oxf. Pkt. Bk. Athletic Training (ed. 2) 71 Do not spend time on learning the hitchkick at the expense of developing speed, etc.
1847T. T. Stoddart Angler's Comp. 69 In making large fly-hooks..I bring down the thread and fasten it, with a simple hitch-knot. |