Pin (?), v. t. Metal Working
To peen.
© Webster 1913.
Pin (?), v. t. [Cf. Pen to confine, or Pinfold.]
To inclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
© Webster 1913.
Pin, n. [OE. pinne, AS. pinn a pin, peg; cf. D. pin, G. pinne, Icel. pinni, W. pin, Gael. & Ir. pinne; all fr. L. pinna a pinnacle, pin, feather, perhaps orig. a different word from pinna feather. Cf. 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.
Milton.
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.
Spectator.
4.
That which resembles a pin in its form or use
; as: (a)
A peg in musical instruments, for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings
. (b)
A linchpin
. (c)
A rolling-pin
. (d)
A clothespin
. (e) Mach.
A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal
. See
Illust. of
Knuckle joint, under
Knuckle. (f) Joinery
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.
[Obs.] "The very
pin of his heart cleft."
Shak.
7.
Mood; humor.
[Obs.] "In merry
pin."
Cowper.
8. Med.
Caligo. See Caligo.
Shak.
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]
Banking pin Horol., a pin against which a lever strikes, to limit its motion. -- Pin drill Mech., 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 grass. Bot. See Alfilaria. -- 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 Naut., a rail, usually within the bulwarks, to hold belaying pins. Sometimes applied to the fife rail. Called also pin rack. -- Pin wheel. (a) A contrate wheel in which the cogs are cylindrical pins. (b) Fireworks A small coil which revolves on a common pin and makes a wheel of yellow or colored fire.
<-- a toy with lightweight, usually brightly colored vanes, as of plastic, which revolve on a pin at the end of a stick, when acted on by a wind -->
© Webster 1913.
Pin (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pinned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pinning.] [See Pin, n.]
To fasten with, or as with, a pin; to join; as, to pin a garment; to pin boards together.
"Aa if she would
pin her to her heart."
Shak.
To pin one's faith upon, to depend upon; to trust to.
© Webster 1913.