Patchwork
['pætʃwɜːk] or ['pætʃ'wɝk]
Definition
(noun.) sewing consisting of pieces of different materials sewn together in a pattern.
(noun.) a quilt made by sewing patches of different materials together.
(noun.) a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas.
Typed by Brooke--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Work composed of pieces sewed together, esp. pieces of various colors and figures; hence, anything put together of incongruous or ill-adapted parts; something irregularly clumsily composed; a thing putched up.
Typed by Gus
Examples
- When, as in Macedonia, populations are mixed in a patchwork of villages and districts, the cantonal system is imperatively needed. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The walls were whitewashed as white as milk, and the patchwork counterpane made my eyes quite ache with its brightness. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- But this imperfectly taught woman, whose phrases and habits were an odd patchwork, had a loyal spirit within her. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- While she is gone, the surgeon abandons his hopeless investigation and covers its subject with the patchwork counterpane. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Sometimes all India was a patchwork quilt of states; sometimes such empires as that of the Guptas prevailed over great areas. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Mr. Cruncher reposed under a patchwork counterpane, like a Harlequin at home. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- To Hannah I give the bandbox she wanted and all the patchwork I leave hoping she 'will remember me, when it you see'. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Certain keys were hanging on the wall, to which he now added the gate key; and his patchwork-covered bed was in a little inner division or recess. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
Checked by Cordelia