hitch

Probably from Middle English hicchen, hytchen, icchen (“to move; to move as with a jerk”), of obscure origin. Lacks cognates in other languages. Compare itch, hike.

• IPA^(key): /hɪt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

hitch (plural hitches)

1. A sudden pull.
2. Any of various knots used to attach a rope to an object other than another rope.^[1]
3. A fastener or connection point, as for a trailer.

   His truck sported a heavy-duty hitch for his boat.

4. (informal) A problem, delay or source of difficulty.

   The banquet went off without a hitch ― The banquet went smoothly.

   • 1961 July, “Glasgow emergency - the restoration of Clydeside steam suburban services”, in Trains Illustrated, page 432:

     The service operated according to plan on the Monday morning with only a few hitches.

   • 2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 110:

     Over the next week, the hitch in my dad's stride eased a bit. But we'd run out of things to talk about.

5. A hidden or unfavorable condition or element.

   Synonym: catch

   The deal sounds too good to be true. What's the hitch?

6. (military, slang) A period of time spent in the military.

   She served two hitches in Vietnam.

   • 2004, June 3, Stephen J. Hedges & Mike Dorning, Chicago Tribune; Orlando Sentinel; page pg. A.1

     U.S. TROOPS FACE LONGER ARMY HITCH; SOLDIERS BOUND FOR IRAQ, ... WILL BE RETAINED

7. A large Californian minnow, Lavinia exilicauda.
8. (mining) A hole cut into the wall of a mine on which timbers are rested.
   • 1879, William Bailes, Student's Guide to the Principles of Coal & Metal Mining, page 17:

     An upcast fault is when the seam is thrown up; to counteract this a "canch" of top stone must be taken down outbye over from the fault, and a "canch" of bottom stone taken up inbye over from the fault, then level up to the bottom of your "canch" at the foreside of the hitch outbye over until you have a regular gradient to the seam on the hitch.

   • 1897, Great Britain. Mines Department, Mines and Quarries. Reports ... for the Newcastle District (No. 3) (page 32)

     A coal cutter and conveyor is used along the face, and after each cut the hitch had to be crossed at a new point.

• hitch in one's get-along
• hitch in one's giddy-up
• Magnus hitch
• midshipman's hitch
• rigger's hitch
• rolling hitch
• taut-line hitch
• tent-line hitch

hitch (third-person singular simple present hitches, present participle hitching, simple past and past participle hitched)

1. (transitive) To pull with a jerk.

   She hitched her jeans up and then tightened her belt.

2. (transitive) To attach, tie or fasten.

   Synonyms: affix, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join

   He hitched the bedroll to his backpack and went camping.

   • 1913, Joseph C Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.

   • 2020 December 3, Cade Metz, Daisuke Wakabayashi, “Google Researcher Says She Was Fired Over Paper Highlighting Bias in A.I.”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The company has hitched its future to artificial intelligence — whether with its voice-enabled digital assistant or its automated placement of advertising for marketers — as the breakthrough technology to make the next generation of services and devices smarter and more capable.

3. (informal) To marry oneself to; especially to get hitched.

   Synonyms: splice, wed; see also Thesaurus:marry

4. (informal, transitive) Clipping of hitchhike, to thumb a ride.

   to hitch a ride

5. (intransitive) To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     atoms […] which at length hitched together

6. (intransitive) To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded.

   Frank’s breath hitched in his throat when he saw the knife being pointed at him.

   • 1733–1737, Alexander Pope, , London: R Dodsley :
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

     To ease themselves […] by hitching into another place.

7. (intransitive, UK) To strike the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.
   • 1686, London Gazette:

     Stolen […] A brown Gelding […] all his paces, and hitches a little in his pace.

• hitch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• List of hitch knots on Wikipedia.Wikipedia