Stitches

A stitch in time saves nine what?

and what does it even mean?

Public Comments

1. It basically means a little preventive maintenance can eliminate the need for major repairs later. Also the same saying as "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
2. It saves nine more stitches which might have to be sewn if you don't sew up the tiny hole you first see. This was from the days of true recycling, when garments were used and mended and altered and reused. In other words take action early if you see a problem arising. It's similar to 'nip it in the bud'.
3. A stitch in time saves nine, means don't procrastinate. or say you have a shirt that's starting to tear if you fix the little tear now with one stitch you wont have to worry about it getting worse later and needing nine stitches later to fix it thus saving you time. could also mean to take a proactive approach to something
4. Most interpretations translate to the same similar definition: If you have a task before you, complete it sooner, rather than later, to prevent the task from becoming a bigger job than it has to be.
5. It means that a stitch when the rip is small saves you having to do nine stitches later when the rip gets bigger.
6. A stitch in time saves nine stitches. If a seam starts to open and you stitch it up right away you stop the tear from becoming bigger.
7. Nine stitches. It is saying that by doing a little now, you save having to do a lot later
8. it means that if you sort something out in time then it will not get any bigger and you won't have to do too much work. let me explain with that sentence. if you have a shirt or something and one stich comes loose, and you don't fix it there and then then the hole will get bigger and you will have to spend more time fixing it. hence a stich in time, meaning you take care of something as soon as it occurs, saves nice, means you save time
9. A stitch in time saves nine Meaning A little timely effort will prevent more work later. Origin The meaning of this proverb is often asked about at the Phrase Finder Discussion Forum so I'll be explicit. This is nothing to do with rips in the fabric of the space-time continuum, as some have ingeniously suggested. The stitch in time is simply the sewing up of a small tear in a piece of material which will save the need for more stitching at a later date, when the tear has become larger. The notion has been current in English for a very long time and is first recorded in Thomas Fuller's Gnomologia, Adagies and Proverbs, Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British, 1732: "A Stitch in Time May save nine." Fuller, who recorded a large number of the early proverbs in the language, wrote a little explanatory preamble to this one: "Because verses are easier got by heart, and stick faster in the memory than prose; and because ordinary people use to be much taken with the clinking of syllables; many of our proverbs are so formed, and very often put into false rhymes; as, a stitch in time, may save nine; many a little will make a mickle. This little artiface, I imagine, was contrived purposely to make the sense abide the longer in the memory, by reason of its oddness and archness." As far as is known, the first person to record that 'a stitch in time saves nine', rather than Fuller's less confident 'may save nine', was the English astronomer Francis Baily, in his Journal, written in 1797 and published in 1856 by Augustus De Morgan: "After a little while we acquired a method of keeping her [a boat] in the middle of the stream, by watching the moment she began to vary, and thereby verifying the vulgar proverb, '‘A stitch in time saves nine.'" http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-stitch-in-time.html "A stitch in time saves nine. If you deal with problems immediately, when they first appear, you will save yourself a lot of money and trouble after. This adage is listed in the 1732 Thomas Fuller's book of proverbs, and was first cited in the United States in the 1787 'Journal of Tour of North America in 1796-1791' by Francis Bally (1774-1844). The word 'nine' was introduced for assonance." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman. Basically, the proverb means if you sew up your hem when it first starts to unravel, it's not a big problem. If you wait and don't take care of it, the whole hem will come undone. THEN you'll have a lot of stitching to do. http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/1/messages/2072.html A little preparation can eliminate the need for repairs later; consistency (achieving a set rhythm) is better than trying to rush ahead. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_stitch_in_time_saves_nine A little preventive maintenance can eliminate the need for major repairs later. (See also An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.) http://www.bartleby.com/59/3/stitchintime.html Idioms: stitch in time, a A prompt action will avert more serious trouble. For example, Changing the car's oil every 7,000 miles is a stitch in time. The complete form of this adage, a stitch in time saves nine, appeared in Thomas Fuller's 1732 proverb collection, Gnomologia, and is so well known that it often is stated in shortened form. Ogden Nash played with it in the title for his verse collection, A Stitch Too Late Is My Fate (1938). http://www.answers.com/A%20stitch%20in%20time%20saves%20nine