A verb meaning to sew one thing onto another — to attach a patch by sewing it upon a garment. Used by Jesus in the parable of the old and new garments: you do not sew a new patch onto old cloth.
Mark 2:21 — 'No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.' Jesus uses epirrhaptō to explain why the new wine of the Kingdom cannot simply be attached to the old wineskin of religious tradition. The word is homely and practical: a seamstress knows better than to stitch new fabric onto old. But the theological point is revolutionary: the Gospel is not a patch. It is not an improvement on the old system; it is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Trying to stitch Jesus onto a religion of works creates a worse tear than before. The new covenant requires new cloth — transformed hearts, not patched ones.