Stitch means to use needle and thread to join pieces of fabric together or to close up a wound. When you sew a button back onto your jacket or repair a torn backpack, you're stitching. Doctors stitch up deep cuts to help them heal properly, using special medical thread that holds the skin together while the body repairs itself.

Each individual loop of thread through fabric is also called a stitch. If you've ever tried cross-stitch or embroidery, you've created decorative stitches in patterns. Different types of stitches serve different purposes: a running stitch quickly joins two pieces of fabric, while a backstitch creates a stronger seam. Knitting uses interlocking stitches of yarn to create sweaters and scarves.

People sometimes say they're in stitches when they're laughing so hard they can barely breathe, as if their sides hurt from laughing. If someone gets a stitch in their side while running, they feel a sharp pain from running too hard without warming up properly.

The phrase a stitch in time saves nine means that fixing a small problem now prevents a bigger problem later. If you repair a small tear in your pocket right away with one stitch, you won't need nine stitches to fix it after the tear gets much bigger.