Covering a hole or damaged area with a piece of material to repair it, or temporarily fixing a problem in software.
From Middle English 'pacche' (a piece of cloth), possibly from Old French 'pache.' Extended to mean any temporary repair; in computing, it means updating software to fix bugs.
Your phone's security patches are literally digital bandages—companies release them constantly because hackers find new holes. You're never done patching; it's basically infinite repair work against invisible enemies!
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