hitch
/hɪtʃ
/verb
1 [with object, and adverbial of direction] Move (something) into a different position with a jerk: she hitched up her skirt and ran...
- It was hitched up to reveal an underskirt of a different color and with no hoops or panniers.
- As skirts were hitched up and ties loosened, out came the blue Rimmel eyeliners and the Body Shop blushers.
- Her skirt was hitched up way higher on one side than the other and the buttons on her shirt were all in the wrong holes.
Synonyms
pull, jerk, hike, lift, raise
informal yank
2 [no object] informal Travel by hitch-hiking: they hitched to Birmingham...
- Rural Ireland was recommended as a friendly place for hitching, as was Quebec - ‘if you don't mind being berated for not speaking French’.
- I've seen a few people hitching with suitcases, but that's weird.
- There was the student hitching on a road outside Maynooth.
Synonyms
hitch-hike
informal thumb a lift, hitch a lift
2.1 [with object] Obtain (a lift) by hitch-hiking: I hitched a ride up the road...
- The ride in an Audi 200 is akin to hitching a lift on the back of a horse drawn carriage.
- Jo Jo was hitching rides down to her home in Callan, Co Kilkenny, when she disappeared.
- Children are dicing with death hitching rides on the back of moving vehicles.
3 [with object] Fasten or tether: he returned to where he had hitched his horse...
- But is hitching your company to a star really the right move?
- He hitches a trailer to his bike to take the children to school or go shopping.
- They were now behind the church where people pulled up their buggies and carriages and hitched them to the posts that were set up.
Synonyms
harness, yoke, couple, fasten, connect, attach, tie, tether, bind
3.1Harness (a draught animal or team): Thomas hitched the pony to his cart...
- Mitchell said the cable did not break, and detectives believe something went wrong when Hart's harness was being hitched to the cable.
- ‘He's too fine a beast to be hitched to do this kind of work,’ he protested.
- Red already had the team hitched for her, so she kissed Joey goodbye and climbed up in the tall seat.
noun
1A temporary difficulty or problem: everything went without a hitch...
- For all its water-tightness and lack of style, all the stuff I tried to read, passed through MSOffice grammar check without a hitch!
- It wasn't easy to do, but English class finally started without a hitch and my headache remained in the back corner of my mind.
- Luckily, the surgery was completed without a hitch and the patient was informed of the problem.
Synonyms
problem, difficulty, issue, snag, setback, catch, hindrance, obstacle, obstruction, complication, impediment, barrier, stumbling block, block, trouble;
hold-up, interruption, delay, check, stoppage
informal headache, glitch, hiccup
British informal spanner in the works
North American informal monkey wrench in the works
2A knot of a particular kind, typically one used for fastening a rope to something else.Lash ropes and diamond hitches are untied, the horses unpacked and then hobbled or tethered in the meadow below camp....
- Also available is The Klutz Book of Knots, a step-by-step manual on how to tie the world's 24 most useful hitches, ties, warps and knots.
2.1North American A device for attaching one thing to another, especially the tow bar of a motor vehicle.These pieces of equipment can be easily attached to a trailer hitch and taken from a job site....
- Some rear bumpers may come with a built-in step or a trailer hitch that will add more functionality to your Chevrolet pickup or SUV.
- Headlights, brush guard and trailer hitch without ball are standard features.
3 informal An act of hitch-hiking: a long walk and a hitch back to Capel Curig
4North American informal A period of service: his 12-year hitch in the navy...
- The Admiral recruited me after I had served a hitch in the Navy.
- Americans in uniform, whether they serve for one hitch or an entire career, are taught to view themselves as professionals.
- On the troop ship home were a bunch of criminals - American soldiers who had spent most of their hitch in the brig.
Phrases
get hitched
hitch one's wagon to a star
Origin
Middle English (in sense 1 of the verb): of unknown origin.
The earliest sense of hitch was ‘to move or lift up with a jerk’. The meaning ‘to fasten or tether’ dates from the early 17th century, and is the one that features in such expressions as to get hitched for get married and to hitch your wagon to a star. The US philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson introduced this second phrase in 1870 in the sense ‘to have high aspirations’. A hitch meaning ‘an obstacle’ is probably from the word's use to mean ‘a knot in a rope’.