different between impediment vs hitch

English

Etymology

From Middle English impediment, borrowed from Latin impedimentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?p?d?m?nt/

Noun

impediment (plural impediments)

1. A hindrance; that which impedes or obstructs progress.
   • 1549, The Booke of Common Prayer and Administracion of the Sacramentes, “Of Matrimonye,”^[1]

     I require and charge you (as you will aunswere at the dreadefull daye of iudgemente, when the secretes of all hartes shalbee disclosed) that if either of you doe knowe any impedimente why ye maie not bee lawfully ioyned together in matrimonie, that ye confesse it.

   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act V, Scene 2,^[2]

     Thus far into the bowels of the land

     Have we marched on without impediment.

   • 1720, Alexander Pope, letter to Robert Digby dated 20 July, 1720, in Mr. Pope’s Literary Correspondence for Thirty Years; from 1704 to 1734, London: E. Curll, 1735, p. 129,^[3]

     Your kind Desire to know the State of my Health had not been unsatisfied of so long, had not that ill State been the Impediment.

   • 1993, Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries, Toronto: Random House of Canada, Chapter Two, p. 64,^[5]

     Patterns incised on this mineral form seem to evade the eye; you have to stand at a certain distance, and in a particular light, to make them out. This impediment is part of the charm for him.

2. A disability, especially one affecting the hearing or speech.

   Working in a noisy factory left me with a slight hearing impediment.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Mark 7.32,^[6]

     And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

   • 1730, Joseph Addison, The Evidences of the Christian Religion, London: J. Tonson, Additional Discourses, Section 10, p. 308,^[7]

     Let us suppose a person blind and deaf from his birth, who being grown to man’s estate, is by the Dead-palsy, or some other cause, deprived of his Feeling, Tasting, and Smelling; and at the same time has the impediment of his Hearing removed, and the film taken from his eyes […]

   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Volume 2, Book 5, Chapter 6, p. 9,^[8]

     Better for you not to be tall! In fact it is almost a kindness of Heaven to be gifted with some safe impediment of body, slightly crooked back or the like, if you much dislike the career of honor under Friedrich Wilhelm.

   • 1931, Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, New York: Vintage, 1972, Chapter 3, p. 56,^[9]

     […] Walter Ivans replied as rapidly as the impediment in his speech permitted.

3. (chiefly in the plural) Baggage, especially that of an army; impedimenta.
   • 1913, Thomas McManus, “The Battle of Irish Bend” in The Twenty-Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, Rockville, Connecticut, p. 36,^[10]

     We were all on foot, officers and men alike. Our horses, baggage, and impediments had been left at Brashear to follow the column of General Emory.

Synonyms

• hindrance
• obstruction
• obstacle
• See also Thesaurus:hindrance

Derived terms

Related terms

• impede
• impedimenta

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “impediment”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “impediment”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin impedimentum

Noun

impediment n (plural impedimente)

1. impediment

Declension

English

Etymology

Probably from Middle English hicchen, hytchen, icchen (“to move; to move as with a jerk”), of obscure origin. Lacks cognates in other languages. Compare itch, hike.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Noun

hitch (plural hitches)

1. A sudden pull.
2. Any of various knots used to attach a rope to an object other than another rope.
3. A fastener or connection point, as for a trailer.

4. (informal) A problem, delay or source of difficulty.
5. A hidden or unfavorable condition or element.

   Synonym: catch

6. (military, slang) A period of time spent in the military.
   • 2004, June 3, Stephen J. Hedges & Mike Dorning, Chicago Tribune; Orlando Sentinel; page pg. A.1

     U.S. TROOPS FACE LONGER ARMY HITCH; SOLDIERS BOUND FOR IRAQ, ... WILL BE RETAINED

Hyponyms

• Magnus hitch
• midshipman's hitch
• rigger's hitch
• rolling hitch
• taut-line hitch
• tent-line hitch

Translations

Verb

hitch (third-person singular simple present hitches, present participle hitching, simple past and past participle hitched)

1. (transitive) To pull with a jerk.

2. (transitive) To attach, tie or fasten.

   Synonyms: affix, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
3. (informal) To marry oneself to; especially to get hitched.

   Synonyms: splice, wed; see also Thesaurus:marry

4. (informal, transitive) Clipping of hitchhike, to thumb a ride.

5. (intransitive) To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling.

   • atoms […] which at length hitched together

6. (intransitive) To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded.
   • To ease themselves […] by hitching into another place.

7. (Britain) To strike the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Translations

Derived terms

• hitch one's wagon to a star
• unhitch
• unhitched

Further reading

• hitch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• List of hitch knots on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References