Meaning

• A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.

  "His sleeves had patches on the elbows where different fabric had been sewn on to replace material that had worn away."

• A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.

  "I can't afford to replace the roof, which is what it really needs. I'll have the roofer apply a patch."

• A piece of any size, used to repair something for a temporary period only, or that it is temporary because it is not meant to last long or will be removed as soon as a proper repair can be made, which will happen in the near future.

  ""This patch should hold until you reach the city," the mechanic said as he patted the car's hood."

• A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size)

  "Doesn't that patch of clouds looks like a bunny?"

• (specifically) A small area, a small plot of land or piece of ground.

  "Scattered patches of trees or growing corn."

• A local region of professional responsibility.

• A small piece of black silk stuck on the face or neck to heighten beauty by contrast, worn by ladies in the 17th and 18th centuries; an imitation beauty mark.

• A piece of material used to cover a wound.

• An adhesive piece of material, impregnated with a drug, which is worn on the skin, the drug being slowly absorbed over a period of time.

  "Many people use a nicotine patch to wean themselves off of nicotine."

• A cover worn over a damaged eye, an eyepatch.

  "He had scratched his cornea so badly that his doctor told him to wear a patch."

• A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.

• A patch file, a file that describes changes to be made to a computer file or files, usually changes made to a computer program that fix a programming bug.

• A small piece of material that is manually passed through a gun barrel to clean it.

• A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.

• (often patch cable, patch cord etc.; see also patch panel) A cable connecting two pieces of electrical equipment.

• A sound setting for a musical synthesizer (originally selected by means of a patch cable).

• An overlay used to obtain a stronger impression.

Meaning

• To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like

  "My coat needs patching."

• To mend with pieces; to repair by fastening pieces on.

• To make out of pieces or patches, like a quilt.

• To join or unite the pieces of; to patch the skirt.

• To employ a temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system.

• (generally with the particle "up") To repair or arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner

  "The truce between the two countries has been patched up."

• To make the changes a patch describes; to apply a patch to the files in question. Hence:

• To connect two pieces of electrical equipment using a cable.

  "I'll need to patch the preamp output to the mixer."