Stitch (?), n. [OE. stiche, AS. stice a pricking, akin to stician to prick. See Stick, v. i.] 1. A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.
2. A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link, or loop, of yarn; as, to let down, or drop, a stitch; to take up a stitch.
3. [Cf. OE. sticche, stecche, stucche, a piece, AS. stycce. Cf. Stock.] A space of work taken up, or gone over, in a single pass of the needle; hence, by extension, any space passed over; distance.
You have gone a good stitch. Bunyan.
In Syria the husbandmen go lightly over with their plow, and take no deep stitch in making their furrows. Holland.
4. A local sharp pain; an acute pain, like the piercing of a needle; as, a stitch in the side.
He was taken with a cold and with stitches, which was, indeed, a pleurisy. Bp. Burnet.
5. A contortion, or twist.
If you talk,
Or pull your face into a stitch again,
I shall be angry. Marston.
6. Any least part of a fabric or dress; as, to wet every stitch of clothes.
7. A furrow. Chapman.
Chain stitch, Lock stitch. See in the Vocabulary. — Pearl, orPurl stitch. See 2nd Purl, 2.