PIN


Meaning of PIN in English

I. pin 1 S3 /pɪn/ BrE AmE noun [countable]

[ Language: Old English ; Origin: pinn ]

1 . FOR JOINING/FASTENING

a) a short thin piece of metal with a sharp point at one end, used especially for fastening together pieces of cloth while making clothes

b) a thin piece of metal used to fasten things together, especially broken bones

2 . JEWELLERY American English a piece of metal, sometimes containing jewels, that you fasten to your clothes to wear as a decoration SYN brooch British English

3 . ELECTRICAL British English one of the pieces of metal that sticks out of an electric ↑ plug :

a three-pin plug

4 .

BOWLING one of the bottle-shaped objects that you try to knock down in a game of ↑ bowling

5 . you could hear a pin drop spoken used to say that it is very quiet and no one is speaking

6 . PART OF BOMB a short piece of metal which you pull out of a ↑ hand grenade to make it explode a short time later

7 . GOLF a metal stick with a flag at the top which marks the holes on a ↑ golf course

8 . for two pins I’d ... British English old-fashioned used to say that you would like to do something to someone because they have annoyed you:

For two pins, I’d just send them all home.

9 . pins [plural] British English informal legs

⇨ ↑ drawing pin , ↑ pin money , ↑ pins and needles (1), ↑ rolling pin , ↑ safety pin

II. pin 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle pinned , present participle pinning ) [transitive always + adverb/preposition]

1 . to fasten something somewhere, or to join two things together, using a pin

pin something to/on something

Can you pin this to the notice board?

He pinned the name tag on his jacket.

pin something up

She had photos of her kids pinned up next to her desk.

2 . to make someone unable to move by putting a lot of pressure or weight on them

pin somebody/something to something

He pinned her arms to her sides.

pin somebody against something

Albert got him pinned against the wall.

pin somebody down

They managed to pin him down until the police arrived.

be pinned under/beneath something

Her body was pinned under the weight of the car.

pin somebody/something ↔ down phrasal verb

1 . to make someone give clear details or make a definite decision about something

pin somebody/something ↔ down to

Did you manage to pin him down to a definite date?

He’s impossible to pin down.

2 . to understand something clearly or be able to describe it exactly

hard/difficult to pin down

The flavour was hard to pin down.

3 . if soldiers etc involved in fighting are pinned down, they cannot move from their position because someone is shooting at them:

The rebels have been pinned down in a camp to the south of the river.

pin something on somebody/something phrasal verb

1 . to blame someone for something, often unfairly:

Don’t try to pin the blame on me!

They’re trying to pin the murder on the boyfriend.

2 . pin your hopes/faith on something/somebody to hope that something will happen or someone will help you, because all your plans depend on this:

Chris is pinning his hopes on getting into Yale.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.