patch

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noun

1 material over a hole

VERB + PATCH

▪ have

▪

Her jeans have patches all over them.

▪ sew on/onto

▪

She wore a jacket with bright patches sewn onto it.

PREPOSITION

▪ patch on

▪

dancers with patches on their costumes

2 part of a surface that is different

ADJECTIVE

▪ irregular

▪ clear, coloured/colored, dark

▪ damp, wet

▪ dry

▪ sweat

▪ icy

▪

icy patches on the roads

▪ bald

▪

He has a small bald patch on the crown of his head.

▪ rough

PREPOSITION

▪ in patches

▪

The velvet curtains were faded in patches.

▪ patch of

▪

There were some patches of clear blue sky.

▪ patch on

▪

A large damp patch had appeared on the ceiling.

PHRASES

▪ a patch of colour/color

▪

Flowers provide bright patches of colour/color.

3 piece of land

ADJECTIVE

▪ isolated

▪

an isolated patch of forest

▪ grassy

▪ bare

▪ berry (AmE), cabbage, potato, pumpkin (esp. AmE), strawberry, vegetable

▪ briar (often figurative, esp. AmE)

▪

The track passes through dense weeds and briar patches.

▪

This led Nixon into a political briar patch (= painful situation difficult to escape).

PREPOSITION

▪ in a/the patch

▪

I spent Sunday working in my vegetable patch.

▪ on a/the patch

▪

located on a small patch of flat ground

PREPOSITION

▪ patch of

▪

We found a nice patch of grass to sit on.

4 (informal) period of time

ADJECTIVE

▪ bad, difficult, rocky, rough, soft (BrE), sticky (BrE)

▪ purple (BrE)

▪

The team has hit a purple patch, with nine wins from their last ten games.

VERB + PATCH

▪ go through, have, hit

▪

Their business hit a sticky patch last year.

PREPOSITION

▪ patch of (esp. BrE)

▪

I was going through a patch of poor health.

5 (AmE) piece of material sewn onto clothes or uniform

VERB + PATCH

▪ sport, wear

▪

He wears a patch from his employer, Verizon.

▪ sew on, stitch on

▪

It has a UPS patch sewn on the right shoulder.

PREPOSITION

▪ patch on

▪

Students were wearing American flag patches on their sleeves.

6 solution to a computing problem

ADJECTIVE

▪ security

VERB + PATCH

▪ apply, deploy

▪ download, install

▪ issue, release

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verb

Patch is used with these nouns as the object: ↑hole