hitch

(hich), v. [ hychen; origin uncertain: (1) appar. an a ibilated form of the verb which remains in mod. E. dial. hick, hop, spring, hike, swing, to , throw, ete. (see hick1, hike): ef. G. dial. hicken, hickeln, hicksen, equiv. to G. (nasalized) hinken (> prob. Sw. hinka, Dan. hinke), go lame, limp, hobble; or (2) perhaps ult. E. (Se.) hotch, move by jerks: see hotch and hustle.] I, in trans. 1. To move by jerks or with pauses or rests; hop; hobble; halt; limp, literally or figuratively: as, to hitch along on the ground; verse that hitches. When the water began to ascend up to their refuged hills, and the place of their hope became an island, lo, now they hitch up higher to the tops of the tallest trees. Rev. T. Adams, Works, III. 71. Weary of long standing, to ease themselves a little by hitching into another place. Fuller, Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme. Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 78. Punishment this day hitches (if she still hitch) after Crime with frightful shoes-of-swiftne . Carlyle, French Rey., I. v. 5. 2. To be fastened, entangled, or snarled; catch. We are told that there was an infinite innumerable company of little bodies, called atoms, from all eternity, flying and roving about in a void space, which at length hitched together and united. South, Works, IX, iii. Set your opinion at whatever pitch, Knots and impediments make something hitch, Cowper, Conversation, 1. 98. 8. To strike the feet together in going; interfere, as a horse. [Eng.]—4. To get on with another, as if in harne ; work smoothly together. ([Colloq.] I... have come to drive a spell for this old fellow, but I gue we shan’t hitch long. Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, I. 116, To hitch up, to harne a horse or horses to a vehicle; make ready for driving. [Colloq.] I was much amused at the lofty air With which the fat driver ordered his a istants to hitch wp quickly. Letters from the South, II. 117. He would hitch up at once and drive over to Elyria. HE, E. Hale, Ten Times One, iv. II. trans. 1. To pull up; raise by jerks. Some special powers with which his legs were endowed had already hitched up his glo y trousers at the ankles. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. 10. Here comes a great hulking sailor; his face beams with honesty, he rolls in his gait, he hitches up his wide trousers, he wears his shiny hat at the back of his head; his hair hangs in ringlets; he chews a quid. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 51. 2. To fasten, especially in a temporary or oeccasional way; make fast; tether; tie up b means of a hook, a ring, a bridle, a rope, ete. “As true as you live, mother,” said Aunt Lois, who had tripped to the window, “there’s Mi Asphyxia Smith hitching her horse at our picket fence.” H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 286. Sometimes the crab hitches one of its claws into some erack or fi ure. Owen, Anat., xiv. 3. Naut., to cover with a network of twine or small cord, worked with one end.—To hitch horses, to agree; join interests. [Collogq.] After he poked his fist in my face, one election, we never hitched horses together. McClintock, Tales.