Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - stitch

~1 n 1 »SEWING« one of the short pieces of thread that you can see in a piece of cloth where it has been sewn  (Some of the stitches have come out of this shirt sleeve.) 2 »WITH WOOL« one of the small circles that join together to make a sweater etc, formed when you are knitting (knit1 (1)) with wool  (drop a stitch (=lose a stitch because the wool has come off the needle)) 3 »STYLE« a particular way of sewing or knitting (knit1 (2)) that makes a particular pattern  (Purl and plain are the two main stitches in knitting.) 4 »FOR WOUND« a piece of thread that fastens the edges of a wound together  (The cut needed 15 stitches. | He had three stitches in it..) 5 »PAIN« a sharp pain in the side of your body, that you can get by running or laughing very hard  (I can't go any faster - I have a stitch.) 6 in stitches laughing uncontrollably  (have sb in stitches (=make sb laugh))  (Her jokes had us all in stitches.) 7 not have a stitch on informal to be wearing no clothes 8 not have a stitch to wear to not have any clothing that is suitable for a particular occasion 9 a stitch in time (saves nine) spoken used to say that it is better to deal with problems early than to wait until they get worse ~2 v to sew two pieces of cloth together, or to sew a decoration onto a piece of cloth  (She stitches the pieces together to make a quilt. | stitch sth onto)  (Nina stitched a flower onto the skirt.) stitch up phr v 1 (stitch something up) to put stitches in cloth or a wound in order to fasten parts of it together  (She stitched up the cut and left it to heal.) 2 (stitch something up) to get a deal or agreement completed satisfactorily so that it cannot be changed  (The deal was stitched up in minutes.) 3 (stitch someone up) BrE informal to make someone seem guilty of a crime by providing false information; frame2 (3)  (George said he'd been stitched up.)