DictionaryAI

bin

BIN/bɪn/

Pluralbins

Verbbins, binning, binned

16 meanings of bin

Practice

  1. 1
    trash cannouncountable
    A container for trash or other waste.

    He crumpled the letter and tossed it in the bin under his desk.

    Reporters were caught going through the minister's bins in search of discarded papers.

    UsageThrow something in the bin or put it in the bin; American English more often says trash can or garbage can.

    Similardustbin, wastebin

  2. 2
    storage boxnouncountable
    A box, frame, crib, or other enclosed space used to store something, such as grain, coal, or wine.

    He pulled a dusty bottle of red from the wine bin in the cellar.

    After the harvest, the grain sits in tall metal bins until prices rise.

    UsageUsually named by what it holds, contents first: a coal bin, a wine bin, a grain bin.

    Similarcontainer, receptacle

    Note

    The storage sense stays closest to the word's roots: Old English binn meant a crib or manger, and behind it lies a Celtic word for a cart.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  3. 3
    son ofnoun
    Son of: used in Arabic names before the name of a man's father, the equivalent of Hebrew ben.

    The court record names the heir as Saeed bin Khalid, eldest son of the late merchant Khalid.

    Her grandfather was Rashid bin Saif, and Saif, his father, had built the family's first fishing boat.

    UsageUsually lowercase inside a full name: Rashid bin Saif.

    Note

    A separate word that only shares the spelling: it comes from Arabic bin, "son", and has no tie to the container. In English it appears inside names, linking a man's given name to his father's, and it stays lowercase there, as in Rashid bin Saif.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The name element bin comes from Arabic meaning “son” and has a separate etymology from the container noun. en.wiktionary.org
  4. 4
    throw awayverbcolloquialBritishtransitive
    To throw something away by putting it in a bin; more broadly, to reject or give up something as if throwing it away.

    He kept the receipts and binned the rest of the post.

    The council voted to bin the plans for a new car park after residents complained.

    UsageDoubles the n: binned, binning.

    Similarchuck, toss, dump, ditch, discard

    Oppositekeep

    Note

    It stretches from the literal (in Tom Holt's Falling Sideways of 2002, a character files one bank statement and bins the rest) to plans and ideas that get dropped.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Tom Holt wrote Falling Sideways. hachette.co.uk
    • The novel describes a character filing a bank statement and binning the remaining material. en.wiktionary.org
  5. 5
    nouncomputing
    A directory on a computer, especially under Unix-like systems, where a program's executables are kept.

    Add the project's bin directory to your PATH before running the tests.

    The build script writes the finished program to bin and leaves the source code in src.

    Note

    The name is usually explained as short for binaries, the compiled programs such a folder holds. Unix-like systems keep several: /bin and /usr/bin for everyday commands, sbin for system administration tools, and a project often has its own bin beside src. Adding a bin directory to the PATH lets you run its programs by name, without typing the full path.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

  6. 6
    chart intervalnouncountable
    Any of the discrete intervals that make up a histogram or a similar grouping of data.

    With twenty bins, the histogram showed two clear peaks.

    Changing the bin width can make the same data look very different.

    Similarinterval, bucket

    Note

    In a histogram each bin becomes one bar, and the bar usually shows how many values fall inside its range. Bins sit edge to edge with no gaps, and every value lands in exactly one, so a value right on the boundary between two bins is counted on one side only. Sorting values into them is the verb, binning.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • A conventional histogram represents each bin with a bar showing its observation count. itl.nist.gov
    • Histogram bins divide the data range into contiguous, non-overlapping intervals, assigning each observation to one interval. www150.statcan.gc.ca
    • A shared boundary value is assigned to only one of the adjoining bins. numpy.org
    • Grouping observations into bins is called binning. matplotlib.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of bin apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–2, 4–9, 11–12

From Middle English bynne, from Old English binn (“crib, manger”), from Late Latin benna or a Celtic language, possibly Proto-Brythonic *benn (“cart, carriage”), ultimately from the Proto-Celtic source of Gaulish benna; compare Welsh ben (“cart”) and Old Breton benn (“caisson”). Compare also German Benne (“wheelbarrow”) and Middle Dutch benne (“basket”), from which come modern Dutch ben and, as a borrowing, West Frisian bin (both “wicker basket”).

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 8 facts

Meaning 3

From Arabic بِن (bin), meaning “son”.

Meaning 13

A pronunciation spelling of been.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

Meaning 10

A clipping of binary.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact