stitch up

phrasal verb

stitched up; stitching up; stitches up

1

: to use a needle and thread to close a large cut or wound

The doctor stitched up his wound.

The doctor stitched him up.

2

British, informal : to make (an innocent person) appear to be guilty of a crime : frame

They stitched him up for murder.

3

British, informal : to do the final things that are needed to complete (something) in a successful way : to finish or do (something) successfully

The mayor stitched up a deal with the union.

We were ahead by 10 points and thought that we had the game stitched up.

Examples of stitch up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Johnson then suffered another concussion in an 85-80 win against Sacred Heart on Nov. 17, 2023, had to get his scalp stitched up, and sat out two games. —Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 23 Jan. 2025

Sparrow told the Chronicle her wound was stitched up at the hospital. —Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 2 July 2024

While at Harrenhal, Daemon sees young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) stitching up the neck of a deceased Jaehaerys (Michael Carter) in a trippy vision. —Alli Rosenbloom, CNN, 30 June 2024

However, the Skydance deal is not entirely stitched up. —Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2024

As a dentist in Israel, Dr. Bitton had also trained in general medicine, and was often called upon to assist the three other prison doctors, stitching up wounds or helping with a tricky diagnosis. —Adam Sella, New York Times, 26 May 2024

Gaza doctors describe a collapsing health system One physician said injured patients are being stitched up with neither anesthesia nor narcotics. —Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 19 Jan. 2024

During surgery, a doctor nicked an artery, which was then stitched up. —Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023

Najjar told us that he was forced to tell a patient with a face wound to go out to a local drug store to buy the supplies needed to stitch up the gash. —Adam Rasgon, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2023

Rhymes for stitch up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup