Pin
Pin , transitive verb
(Metal Working) To peen.
Pin , transitive verb
[Compare Pen to confine, or Pinfold.]
To inclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
Pin , noun
[Old English pinne, Anglo-Saxon pinn a pin, peg; compare Dutch pin, German pinne, Icelandic pinni, Welsh pin, Gael. & Ir. pinne; all from Latin pinna a pinnacle, pin, feather, perhaps orig. a different word from pinna feather. Compare Fin of a fish, Pen a feather.]
1.
A piece of wood, metal, etc., generally cylindrical, used for fastening separate articles together, or as a support by which one article may be suspended from another; a peg; a bolt.
With pins of adamant
And chains they made all fast.
2.
Especially, a small, pointed and headed piece of brass or other wire (commonly tinned), largely used for fastening clothes, attaching papers, etc.
3.
Hence, a thing of small value; a trifle.
He... did not care a pin for her.
4.
(Machinery) That which resembles a pin in its form or use
(a)
(Machinery) A peg in musical instruments, for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.
(b)
(Machinery) A linchpin.
(c)
(Machinery) A rolling-pin.
(d)
(Machinery) A clothespin.
(e)
(Machinery) A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.
(f)
(Machinery) The tenon of a dovetail joint.
5.
One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each man should drink.
6.
The bull's eye, or center, of a target; hence, the center. [Obsolete]
The very pin of his heart cleft.
7.
Mood; humor. [Obsolete]
In merry pin.
8.
9.
An ornament, as a brooch or badge, fastened to the clothing by a pin; as, a Masonic pin.
10.
The leg; as, to knock one off his pins. [Slang]
Collocations (8)
Banking pin (Horology) , a pin against which a lever strikes, to limit its motion.
Pin drill (Mechanics) , a drill with a central pin or projection to enter a hole, for enlarging the hole, or for sinking a recess for the head of a bolt, etc.; a counterbore.
Pin hole , a small hole made by a pin; hence, any very small aperture or perforation.
Pin lock , a lock having a cylindrical bolt; a lock in which pins, arranged by the key, are used instead of tumblers.
Pin money , an allowance of money, as that made by a husband to his wife, for private and personal expenditure.
Pin rail (Nautical) , a rail, usually within the bulwarks, to hold belaying pins. Sometimes applied to the fife rail. Called also pin rack.
Pin wheel (Fireworks) , (a) A contrate wheel in which the cogs are cylindrical pins A small coil which revolves on a common pin and makes a wheel of yellow or colored fire.
Pin , transitive verb
[See Pin, n.]
To fasten with, or as with, a pin; to join; as, to pin a garment; to pin boards together.
As if she would pin her to her heart.
Collocations (1)
To pin one's faith upon , to depend upon; to trust to.