mid-15c., from patch (n.1). Electronics sense of "to connect temporarily" is attested from 1923. Related: Patched; patching.
patch (n.1)
"piece of cloth used to mend another material," late 14c., of obscure origin, perhaps a variant of pece, pieche, from Old North French pieche (see piece (n.)), or from an unrecorded Old English word (but Old English had claðflyhte "a patch"). Phrase not a patch on "nowhere near as good as" is from 1860.
patch (n.2)
"fool, clown," 1540s, perhaps from Italian pazzo "fool," of unknown origin. Possibly from Old High German barzjan "to rave" [Klein]. But Buck says pazzo is originally euphemistic, and from Latin patiens "suffering," in medical use, "the patient." Form perhaps influenced by folk etymology derivation from patch (n.1), on notion of a fool's patched garb.
双语例句
1. The company I work for went through a rough patch.
我所在的公司经历了一段困难时期。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He's not a patch on the rest of the Cabinet.
他远比不上内阁的其他成员。
来自柯林斯例句
3. They tried digging in a patch just below the cave.
他们试着在洞穴正下方的一块地上挖掘。
来自柯林斯例句
4. There was a patch of waste land behind the church.
教堂的后面有一块荒地。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Handsome, she thought, but not a patch on Alex.