# bin

Pronunciation: say "BIN" /bɪn/

## Noun

1. A container for trash or other waste.
   - Simple: A container where you throw away trash.
   - _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._
2. A box, frame, crib, or other enclosed space used to store something, such as grain, coal, or wine.
   - Simple: A box or closed space where things like grain, coal, or wine are kept.
   - _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._
3. Son of: used in Arabic names before the name of a man's father, the equivalent of Hebrew ben.
   - Simple: Son of. It is used in Arabic names, before the name of a man's father.
   - _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._
5. A directory on a computer, especially under Unix-like systems, where a program's executables are kept.
   - Simple: A folder on a computer that holds the files that make programs run.
   - _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._
6. Any of the discrete intervals that make up a histogram or a similar grouping of data.
   - Simple: One of the number ranges that data is sorted into in a chart called a histogram.
   - _With twenty bins, the histogram showed two clear peaks._
   - _Changing the bin width can make the same data look very different._
8. A sin bin: the spot where a player briefly sent off in rugby, ice hockey, or certain other sports has to wait. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: In some sports, the place where a player who is sent off for a short time has to wait.
   - _After a late hit, the winger cooled off in the bin for ten minutes._
   - _Both teams had a player in the bin when the second goal went in._
10. Short for binary: a computer file containing data other than plain text, or the base-2 number system, which uses only 0 and 1. — Clipping of binary.
   - Simple: Short for binary: a file holding data other than plain text, or a number system using only 0 and 1.
   - _The vendor ships the driver only as a precompiled bin, so the source code stays private._
   - _Convert the value from hex to bin and count how many ones it has._
11. Short for loony bin: an offensive slang term for a psychiatric hospital. *(slang)* — Ellipsis of loony bin (“lunatic asylum”).
   - Simple: Short for loony bin: a rude slang word for a hospital for people with mental illness.
   - _His family had him committed, and the neighbors whispered that he was in the bin._
   - _She spent six weeks in the bin after the breakdown and never spoke about it._
12. In nonlinear video editing software, a virtual folder used to group and organize clips and other media.
   - Simple: A folder inside a video editing program where you keep clips, sounds, and pictures.
   - _Before cutting the documentary, the editor sorted the footage into bins by shooting day._
   - _Drag the drone shots from the bin onto the timeline._

## Verb

4. To throw something away by putting it in a bin; more broadly, to reject or give up something as if throwing it away. *(colloquial, British)*
   - Simple: To throw something in the bin, or to give up on a plan or idea.
   - _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._
7. To put something, such as wine, into a bin to be stored.
   - Simple: To put something into a bin so it can be stored.
   - _The winery bins its best reds for several years before releasing them._
   - _Growers who bin their apples in cold storage can sell them well into spring._
9. To convert continuous data into discrete groups, assigning each value to one of them.
   - Simple: To sort numbers or measurements into separate groups.
   - _The researchers binned participants' ages into five-year intervals before the analysis._
   - _If you bin the data too coarsely, you can hide important patterns._
13. Another spelling of been: the past participle of be, written to reflect its pronunciation in some dialects and in casual writing. *(dialectal)* — Alternative form of been.
   - Simple: Another spelling of been: written the way some people say it, in local speech and texts.
   - _Have you bin to the new pizza place yet? It's amazing._
   - _"I've bin working this farm since I was a boy," the old man said._

## Other meanings

- (contraction) Short for being: the present participle of be, spelled this way in casual texts and online messages.
- (noun) A jail or prison.
- (noun) One of the fixed-size sections into which airspace is divided for radar purposes.

## Origin

**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”).
**Meaning 3** — From Arabic بِن (bin), meaning “son”.
**Meaning 13** — A pronunciation spelling of been.
**Meaning 10** — A clipping of binary.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bin (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).