Meaning of patch In English

• 0 a small area that is different in some way from the area that surrounds it:

  • Our dog has a black patch on his back.

  • The hotel walls were covered in damp patches.

  • There were lots of icy patches on the road this morning.

  • This story is good in patches (= some parts are good), but I wouldn't really recommend it.

  • He's been working as a policeman on the same patch for 20 years.

• 1 a small piece of material sewn or stuck over something to cover it:

  • I'll have to sew a patch onto these jeans - they're ripped at the knee.

  • a shirt with a US flag patch sewn onto the right shoulder

  • His black jacket has a black-and-silver patch bearing the school's Latin motto.

  • Some people wear nicotine patches to help them give up smoking.

• 2 a small computer program that can be added to an existing program in order to make the existing program work as it should:

  • I downloaded a patch from their website.

• 3 to connect electronic or phone equipment to a system

• 4 to put a patch on something

• 5 to solve a problem that a computer system or program has:

  • They issued an update to patch the bug.

  • We need to identify and patch vulnerabilities in internet security.

• 6 a small part of a surface that is different in some way from the area around it:

  • Watch for patches of ice on the road.

  • We have a small vegetable patch (= area for growing vegetables).

• 7 a piece of material put over a damaged area or hole to repair, strengthen, or cover it:

  • His old jeans are covered with patches.

• 8 a small computer program that can repair a problem with software:

  • You can download a patch to fix the problem.

• 9 to experience a lot of problems in a short period of time:

  • Economically, the country is going through a bad patch.

  • The company hit a rough patch last year, which included its first quarterly loss since going public.