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 claeflyhte "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.
雙語例句
1. The company I work for went through a rough patch.
我所在的公司經歷了一段困難時期。
來自柯林斯例句
2. He's not a patch on the rest of the Cabinet.
他遠比不上內閣的其他成員。
來自柯林斯例句
3. They tried digging in a patch just below the cave.
他們試著在洞穴正下方的一塊地上挖掘。
來自柯林斯例句
4. There was a patch of waste land behind the church.
教堂的后面有一塊荒地。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Handsome, she thought, but not a patch on Alex.