HITCH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hitch mean? 

• HITCH (noun)
  The noun HITCH has 7 senses:

1. a period of time spent in military service

2. the state of inactivity following an interruption

3. an unforeseen obstacle

4. a connection between a vehicle and the load that it pulls

5. a knot that can be undone by pulling against the strain that holds it; a temporary knot

6. any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome

7. the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg

  Familiarity information: HITCH used as a noun is common.

• HITCH (verb)
  The verb HITCH has 5 senses:

1. to hook or entangle

2. walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury

3. jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched

4. travel by getting free rides from motorists

5. connect to a vehicle:

  Familiarity information: HITCH used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HITCH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A period of time spent in military service

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

duty tour; enlistment; hitch; term of enlistment; tour; tour of duty

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of inactivity following an interruption

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

arrest; check; halt; hitch; stay; stop; stoppage

Context example:

he spent the entire stop in his seat

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

inaction; inactiveness; inactivity (the state of being inactive)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hitch"):

countercheck (a check that restrains another check)

logjam (any stoppage attributable to unusual activity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An unforeseen obstacle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

hang-up; hitch; rub; snag

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

obstacle; obstruction (something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A connection between a vehicle and the load that it pulls

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

connecter; connection; connective; connector; connexion (an instrumentality that connects)

Derivation:

hitch (connect to a vehicle:)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A knot that can be undone by pulling against the strain that holds it; a temporary knot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

knot (any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hitch"):

Blackwall hitch (a simple hitch used for temporarily attaching a line to a hook)

cat's-paw (a hitch in the middle of rope that has two eyes into which tackle can be hooked)

rolling hitch (a hitch for fastening a line to a spar or another rope)

becket bend; sheet bend; weaver's hitch; weaver's knot (a hitch used for temporarily tying a rope to the middle of another rope (or to an eye))

timber hitch (a hitch used to secure a rope to a log or spar; often supplemented by a half hitch)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

encumbrance; hinderance; hindrance; hitch; incumbrance; interference; preventative; preventive

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

impediment; impedimenta; obstructer; obstruction; obstructor (any structure that makes progress difficult)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hitch"):

clog (any object that acts as a hindrance or obstruction)

speed bump (a hindrance to speeding created by a crosswise ridge in the surface of a roadway)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hitch; hobble; limp

Hypernyms ("hitch" is a kind of...):

gait (a person's manner of walking)

Derivation:

hitch (walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury)

• HITCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hitch    ... he / she / it hitches   
Past simple: hitched   
Past participle: hitched   
-ing form: hitching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To hook or entangle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

catch; hitch

Context example:

One foot caught in the stirrup

Hypernyms (to "hitch" is one way to...):

attach (cause to be attached)

Verb group:

catch (cause to become accidentally or suddenly caught, ensnared, or entangled)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hitch"):

snag (catch on a snag)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Antonym:

unhitch (unfasten or release from or as if from a hitch)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

gimp; hitch; hobble; limp

Context example:

The old woman hobbles down to the store every day

Hypernyms (to "hitch" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

hitch (the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

buck; hitch; jerk

Context example:

the yung filly bucked

Hypernyms (to "hitch" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Travel by getting free rides from motorists

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

hitch; hitchhike; thumb

Hypernyms (to "hitch" is one way to...):

ride (be carried or travel on or in a vehicle)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Connect to a vehicle:

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

hitch the trailer to the car

Hypernyms (to "hitch" is one way to...):

connect; link; link up; tie (connect, fasten, or put together two or more pieces)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

hitch (a connection between a vehicle and the load that it pulls)

 Context examples 

Almost before I knew it, and without one serious hitch, I had the mainmast stepped.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He hitched his pack farther over on his left shoulder, so as to take a portion of its weight from off the injured ankle.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He had hitched his wagon to a star and been landed in a pestiferous marsh.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Sir Lothian and his man started some time ago. I should be sorry if there should be any hitch in our meeting.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Won't you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road together, driving in double harness?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Ah, said he, that's the hitch, for sure.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He would advance his fore legs and drag up his body with a sort of hitching movement, when he would advance his fore legs and hitch ahead again for a few more inches.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Built mainly by students and hitching rides into orbit on NASA and U.S. Department of Defense launch vehicles, the small, low-cost satellites have been making history.

(Six-decade-old space mystery solved with shoebox-sized satellite called a CubeSat, National Science Foundation)

"Now for the hitch in Jane's character," he said at last, speaking more calmly than from his look I had expected him to speak.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This hitch in the mainspring of the domestic machinery had a bad effect upon the whole concern, but Amy's motto was 'Nil desperandum', and having made up her mind what to do, she proceeded to do it in spite of all obstacles.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)