Hinge
Hinge , noun
[Old English henge, heeng; akin to Dutch heng, LG. henge, Prov. English hingle a small hinge; connected with hang, v., and Icelandic hengja to hang. See Hang.]
1.
The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door, gate, lid, etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a strip of leather, which serves as a joint to turn on.
The gate self-opened wide,
On golden hinges turning.
2.
That on which anything turns or depends; a governing principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was the hinge on which the question turned.
3.
One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [Rare]
When the moon is in the hinge at East.
Nor slept the winds... but rushed abroad.
Collocations (2)
Hinge joint (Anatomy) , See Ginglymus. Any joint resembling a hinge, by which two pieces are connected so as to permit relative turning in one plane.
To be off the hinges , to be in a state of disorder or irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. — Tillotson
Hinge , transitive verb
1.
To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.
2.
To bend. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
Hinge , intransitive verb
To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; -- usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point. — I. Taylor