Definition of "pin"

pin¹

/pɪn/

noun
plural pins
1. A needle without an eye (usually) made of drawn-out steel wire with one end sharpened and the other flattened or rounded into a head, used for fastening.
  Quotations
  With pins of adamant / And chains they made all fast.
  1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
2. A small nail with a head and a sharp point.
3. A cylinder often of wood or metal used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts.
4. (wrestling, professional wrestling) The victory condition of holding the opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time.
5. A slender object specially designed for use in a specific game or sport, such as skittles or bowling.
6. (informal, in the plural) A leg.
7. (electricity) Any of the individual connecting elements of a multipole electrical connector.
8. A piece of jewellery that is attached to clothing with a pin.
9. (US) A simple accessory that can be attached to clothing with a pin or fastener, often round and bearing a design, logo or message, and used for decoration, identification or to show political affiliation, etc.
10. (chess) Either a scenario in which moving a lesser piece to escape from attack would expose a more valuable piece to being taken instead, or one where moving a piece is impossible as it would place the king in check.
11. (golf) The flagstick: the flag-bearing pole which marks the location of a hole
12. (curling) The spot at the exact centre of the house (the target area)
13. (archery) The spot at the exact centre of the target, originally a literal pin that fastened the target in place.
  Quotations
  For kings are clouts that euery man ſhoots at,Our Crowne the pin that thouſands ſeeke to cleaue.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act II, scene iv
  the very pin of his heart cleft
  c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iv]
14. (obsolete) A mood, a state of being.
  Quotations
  Hee sett Promethius, on a merrye pynn, / Whoe dranke soe devillishly, that there he gott / A terrible heartburninge, […]
  c. 1631–1633 (first performance), [John Clavell], edited by John Henry Pyle Pafford and W[alter] W[ilson] Greg, The Soddered Citizen (The Malone Society Reprints; 82), London: […] [F]or the Malone Society by John Johnson at the Oxford University Press, published 1936, Act II, scene v, folio 14a, page 45, lines 1030–1032
  he had made the sign of the Cross on his head; for he was then on a merry pin and full of jearing
  1653, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […]
15. One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each person should drink.
16. (medicine, obsolete) Caligo.
  Quotations
  Blind with the pin and web
  c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]
17. A thing of small value; a trifle.
  Quotations
  He […] did not care a pin for her.
  1712 February 18 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, February 7, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 295; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
18. A peg in musical instruments for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.
19. (engineering) A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.
20. The tenon of a dovetail joint.
21. (UK, brewing) A size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.
22. (informal) A pinball machine.
  Quotations
  Attracted by game operation, many invested heavily in pins and rolldowns prior to last spring.
  1949, Billboard, volume 61, page 82
23. (locksmithing) A small cylindrical object which blocks the rotation of a pin-tumbler lock when the incorrect key is inserted.
verb
third-person singular simple present pins, present participle pinning, simple past and past participle pinned
1. (often followed by a preposition such as "to" or "on") To fasten or attach (something) with a pin.
2. (chess, usually passive voice) To cause (a piece) to be in a pin.
3. (wrestling) To pin down (someone).
4. To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
5. (computing, graphical user interface, transitive) To attach (an icon, application, message etc.) to another item so that it persists.
6. (programming, transitive) To fix (an array in memory, a security certificate, etc.) so that it cannot be modified.
  Quotations
  […] you can use the GCHandle class mentioned earlier to pin a heap block until you explicitly unpin it.
  2012, Ian Griffiths, Programming C# 5.0, page 244
7. (transitive) To cause an analog gauge to reach the stop pin at the high end of the range.
  Quotations
  Now I need to pin those needles.
  1979, Al Greenwood, Lou Gramm, “Rev on the Red Line”, in Head Games

pin²

/pɪn/

verb
third-person singular simple present pins, present participle pinning, simple past and past participle pinned
1. Alternative form of peen

Definition of "pin"

pin1

noun

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verb

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pin2

verb

pin¹

pin²