Hitch means to attach or fasten something temporarily, usually so it can move or be pulled. When a farmer hitches a plow to a tractor, she connects them with a special coupling that lets the tractor pull the plow through the field. Cowboys in old westerns hitched their horses to posts outside the saloon, tying the reins so the horses would stay put but could easily be untied later.

The word often appears in the phrase hitch a ride, which means to get transportation from someone else, like asking your neighbor if you can catch a ride to soccer practice. You might also hitch up your pants if they're slipping down, pulling them back into place.

A hitch can also be a problem or complication that slows things down. If your school play rehearsal goes off without a hitch, everything runs smoothly with no unexpected problems. But if there's a hitch in the plan, something has gone wrong: maybe the costumes didn't arrive on time, or someone forgot their lines. When people say “there's just one hitch,” they mean there's a catch or difficulty that needs to be solved before moving forward.

The word can also refer to a period of time spent doing something, like when someone serves a hitch in the military or completes a temporary work assignment.