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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

patch up en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To repair by adding a patch.
    • I needed to patch up my trousers after ripping them on the brambles.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To mend quickly.
  3. (figuratively, idiomatic) To repair relations; to improve relations.
    • Nixon was very curious about developments on the Chinese mainland. He particularly wanted to know whether the Vice-Premier saw any possibility of Peking and Moscow patching up their feud in the foreseeable future. Chiang Ching-kuo answered in the negative. 1983, James C. H. Shen, “Signs of Change”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 51:
    • But capital was proving difficult to raise; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash. 1955 February, T. B. Sands, “The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 79:
    • You need to patch things up with your sister after that horrible argument.
    • Rocko and Heffer appear on a talk show after they have a fight, but they fail to please the audience when they patch things up. 1999, Triangle Publications (publisher), TV Guide, volume 47, page 194:
  4. (obsolete) To overlay.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
patched up Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
patched up Tense=Past lexicographic
patches up Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
patching up Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (14)

eu adabakitu (to mend quickly and roughly) · it rattoppare (to mend quickly and roughly) · it rammendare (to mend quickly and roughly) · pl łatać (to mend quickly and roughly) · de zusammenklittern (to mend quickly and roughly) · de klittern (to mend quickly and roughly) · mi pūnotinoti (to mend quickly and roughly) · de zurechtflicken (to mend quickly and roughly) · eu adabatu (to mend quickly and roughly) · de zusammenschustern (to mend quickly and roughly) · pl załatać (to mend quickly and roughly) · es emparchar (to mend quickly and roughly) · de zusammenflicken (to mend quickly and roughly) · es parchear (to mend quickly and roughly)