patch vs pincushion

patch

noun
  • A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore. 

  • A cover worn over a damaged eye, an eyepatch. 

  • A piece of any size, used to repair something for a temporary period only, or that it is temporary because it is not meant to last long or will be removed as soon as a proper repair can be made, which will happen in the near future. 

  • A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole. 

  • A small area, a small plot of land or piece of ground. 

  • A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size) 

  • A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting. 

  • A sound setting for a musical synthesizer (originally selected by means of a patch cable). 

  • An overlay used to obtain a stronger impression. 

  • A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc. 

  • A cable connecting two pieces of electrical equipment. 

  • A small piece of black silk stuck on the face or neck to heighten beauty by contrast, worn by ladies in the 17th and 18th centuries; an imitation beauty mark. 

  • A small piece of material that is manually passed through a gun barrel to clean it. 

  • A local region of professional responsibility. 

  • A piece of material used to cover a wound. 

  • An adhesive piece of material, impregnated with a drug, which is worn on the skin, the drug being slowly absorbed over a period of time. 

  • A patch file, a file that describes changes to be made to a computer file or files, usually changes made to a computer program that fix a programming bug. 

verb
  • To connect two pieces of electrical equipment using a cable. 

  • To mend with pieces; to repair by fastening pieces on. 

  • To join or unite the pieces of; to patch the skirt. 

  • To repair or arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner 

  • To employ a temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system. 

  • To make out of pieces or patches, like a quilt. 

  • To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like 

  • To make a quick and possibly temporary change to a program. 

  • To fix or improve a computer program without a complete upgrade. 

pincushion

noun
  • A device, originally like a small, stuffed cushion, designed to have sewing pins and needles stuck into it to store them safely; some modern pincushions hold the objects magnetically. 

  • The pincushionplant, a flowering plant in the genus Navarretia. 

  • A flowering plant in the genus Leucospermum. 

  • The dustymaiden, a flowering plant in the genus Chaenactis. 

  • A person who is pricked or stabbed multiple times with sharp objects; specifically, someone who receives regular hypodermic needle injections. 

  • The coral bead plant, coral moss, or English baby tears (Nertera granadensis), an ornamental plant. 

  • A flowering plant in the genus Scabiosa. 

  • The pincushion cactus, of the genera Escobaria or Mammillaria. 

verb
  • To jab or stick repeatedly with one or more sharp objects, as with pins into a pincushion. 

  • To assume the shape of a pincushion; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit pincushion distortion, where the sides curve inwards. 

How often have the words patch and pincushion occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )