▪ I. fitch, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(fɪtʃ)
Forms: 4–5 ficche, fetch, 5–6 fiche, 6 feche, fytch, fitche, 5– fitch.
[var. of vetch.]
1. = vetch; the plant Vicia sativa, or its seed. Also attrib., as fitch-grass.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxviii. 25 Barly, and myle, and ficche [1388 fetchis] in ther coestes. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 550 Fitches flynge afore hem [briddes] ofte. 1559 J. Aylmer Harborowe H j, Satan..soweth tares and fytches of heresies and sectes continually. 1611 Bible Isa. xxviii. 25 Doth he not cast abroad the fitches? 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Sand, It was sowed with Oats and Fitches. 1789 Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts (ed. 2) II. 57 Rib-grass, fitch-grass..and rye-grass. 1876 in Whitby Gloss., Fitches. |
† b. With reference to the size of a vetch-seed.
| 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Phisick. i. xxxvii. 61 Put in a peece of a spunge as much as the fiche. 1634 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xxii. 69 A little eare-waxe to the quantitie of a fitch. |
† 2. transf. Something resembling the seed of a vetch. Obs.
| 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. ii. viii. 102 Red Vetches or Fitches in the residence..are recorded..to signifie..great inflammation of the Liuer. |
▪ II. fitch, n.2
(fɪtʃ)
Also 6 fyȝche, feche, fyche, fiche.
[a. (perh. through an unrecorded OF. form) MDu. visse, fisse, whence OF. fissel fitchew.]
1. = fitchew.
| 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds §213 (1877) 118 We have marterns..otters, fitches, squerelles, etc. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 172 They say ‘they stink like an Iltis,’ that is, a fitch, or poul-cat. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 49 Fitch..The part of use taken from them is the skinne. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Fitch, a Polecat. |
2. The fur or hair of a polecat.
| 1502 Will of Sowerby (Somerset Ho.) [Furred with] fyȝches. 1663–73 Bullokar, Fitch, the furr of the Polecat. 1879 M. M. Backus in Encycl. Brit. IX. 838/1 Fitch Size about that of the American mink. 1884 J. C. Staples in Girl's Own Paper 8 Mar. 354/3 Some [brushes] are made of sable, fitch, and other hairs. |
3. A brush made of the hair of a fitchew or polecat; also, a small brush made of hog's hair.
| 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 106 The smallest hog⁓hair brushes are called fitches. |
4. attrib., as fitch-brush, fitch-hair.
| 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk. Bk., French Sch. Paint. (end), Can you describe it? No, not if pens were fitch-brushes. |
▪ III. fitch, n.3
(fɪtʃ)
Also fetch.
[Origin unknown.]
In basket-making, a kind of plait in which two canes or osiers are twisted together in the same direction so as to enclose a crossing weft at each half-turn. Also = fitch-rod, one of the canes so used. Hence fitch v.2
| 1907 Jrnl. Society Arts 11 Jan. 190/2 The strokes chiefly used are termed: a slew when two or more rods are woven in together.., a fitch when two are woven alternately one under the other. Ibid., Some fitched basket chairs..are nearly 3,000 years old. 1910 Encycl. Brit. III. 482/2 The ‘fitch’..employed for skeleton work such as cages and waste-paper baskets. 1912 Rep. Cambr. Anthropol. Exped. Torres Straits IV. 64. 1953 A. G. Knock Willow Basket-Work 21 When a round of fitching is completed, the remainder of the two rods may be worked out as a pair. Ibid., The size of the fitch rods is generally a little smaller than that of the stakes. |
▪ IV. fitch, v.1 Sc. and north. dial.
[app. an intermediate form between fike and fidge.]
1. intr. ‘To move by slow succussations from one place to another’ (Jam.). Cf. fidge v.
| 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iv. viii. 35 They are so nettled therewith, that they fitch hither and thither. 1790 A. Wilson Poems 63 A speakin' Pack's owre learnt for me, Or ane that steers an' fitches. |
2. trans. ‘To move any thing a little way from its former place’ (Jam.).
| 1892 Northumb. Gloss., Fitch that flake—remove that hurdle. |
b. ‘To lift and lay down again, to touch a thing frequently’ (Jam.); = fidge v.
| [1692 ‘Jacob Curate’ Sc. Presbyt. Eloquence iii. 99 This John [Simple] was ordinarily called Fitch-cape and Claw-poll, because in the time of Preaching, or Praying he used to claw his Head, and rub his Callet.] |