# pin

Pronunciation: say "PIN" /pɪn/

## Noun

1. A short, slender fastener, typically of drawn steel wire, pointed at one end and finished with a flat or rounded head at the other, like an eyeless needle.
   - Simple: A short, thin piece of metal with a sharp point and a small head, used to hold things together.
   - _The dressmaker kept a pin between her lips while she adjusted the sleeve._
   - _The tailor marked the hem with a row of pins before sewing it._
5. A small ornament, such as a badge or brooch, fastened to clothing with a pin or clasp and worn for decoration, identification, or to show support. *(US)*
   - Simple: A small badge or piece of jewelry you fasten to your clothes.
   - _Campaign volunteers handed out pins bearing the candidate's slogan._
   - _Each delegate wore an identification pin on her lapel._
7. A short rod or cylinder, often of metal or wood, used in a mechanism to join parts, act as a bearing, or stop parts from moving, as in a lock.
   - Simple: A short rod used inside a device or lock to hold parts together or control how they move.
   - _Before using the extinguisher, pull out the pin that locks the handle._
   - _Old barns were framed with oak pins instead of iron nails._
8. Any of the individual connecting parts of an electrical connector with several contacts, such as a plug.
   - Simple: One of the separate parts of a plug or connector that make an electrical connection.
   - _A bent pin inside the connector can stop the whole cable from working._
   - _The new connector has more pins than the old one, so it can carry more signals at once._
9. A slender object designed for use in a particular game or sport, such as bowling or skittles.
   - Simple: A thin object made for some games and sports, such as bowling.
   - _He left a single pin standing in the corner and missed the spare._
   - _The old skittle alley used wooden pins that had to be reset by hand._
10. In wrestling, the winning condition of holding an opponent's shoulders on the mat for a period set by the rules.
   - Simple: In wrestling, a win that comes from holding the other person's shoulders on the mat for a set time.
   - _A pin ends the match immediately, no matter how far behind on points the winner was._
   - _The challenger broke free just before the referee could count the pin._
13. A small nail that has a head at one end and a sharp point at the other.
   - Simple: A small nail with a sharp end and a head at the top.
   - _Drive each pin in at a slight angle so the trim holds firmly._
   - _The carpenter fixed the thin molding in place with brass pins and a tack hammer._
11. In golf, the pole carrying a flag that marks where a hole is.
   - Simple: In golf, the stick with a flag that shows where the hole is.
   - _Her approach shot landed softly and rolled to within a foot of the pin._
   - _With the pin tucked behind the bunker, most players aimed for the middle of the green._
15. A leg, used in the plural to mean someone's legs. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Legs. You use it in the plural, pins, to talk about someone's legs.
   - _At ninety, he is still remarkably steady on his pins._
   - _Her long pins carried her past the other runners in the final lap._
16. In chess, a situation where moving an attacked piece would expose a more valuable one to capture, or where a piece cannot move because doing so would put its king in check.
   - Simple: In chess, when a piece can't move safely because the king or a stronger piece is behind it.
   - _Because of the pin, Black's knight could not move without exposing the king._
   - _Ignoring the pin, he moved his rook and the bishop captured his queen._
18. A pinball machine. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A pinball machine, the kind of game you play in an arcade.
   - _The bar's newest pin draws a crowd every Friday night._
   - _He restores vintage pins, rewiring their flippers and scoreboards before selling them to collectors._
20. Something worth very little; a trifle.
   - Simple: Something that is worth very little.
   - _She didn't care a pin for the title, only for the work itself._
   - _Without the signature, the contract is not worth a pin._
12. An icon placed on an electronic map to mark one exact spot.
   - Simple: A small mark on a map on a phone or computer that shows where a place is.
   - _She dropped a pin at the trailhead so the rest of the group could meet her there._
   - _The app puts pins on every coffee shop within a mile of you._

## Noun · PIN

2. Short for personal identification number: a secret numeric code used to prove a person's identity, as with a bank card or phone. — Acronym of personal identification number.
   - Simple: Short for personal identification number: a secret number you type to use a bank card or phone.
   - _The ATM kept his card after he entered the wrong PIN three times._
   - _Her new phone asks for a PIN every time it restarts._

## Verb

3. To fasten or attach something with a pin, often to or on something else.
   - Simple: To use a pin to attach one thing to another.
   - _The coach pinned the starting lineup to the locker-room door._
   - _Pin the pattern to the fabric before you start cutting._
4. To hold someone down or press them against something so that they cannot move, as a wrestler does to an opponent on the mat.
   - Simple: To hold someone down or against something so they cannot move, for example in wrestling.
   - _The senior pinned his opponent to the mat in the second period._
   - _Two officers had to pin the man against the wall to stop him from running._
6. To attach an icon, application, message or similar item to another item, such as a taskbar, so that it stays there.
   - Simple: To make an app, icon or message stay in one place on a screen.
   - _Moderators pinned the rules to the top of the forum so new members would see them first._
   - _Pin the spreadsheet to your start menu if you use it every day._
14. To shut in or confine, as an animal is kept in a pen or pound.
   - Simple: To keep someone or something shut in a small space so they can't get out.
   - _Floodwaters can pin whole villages in for weeks during the rainy season._
   - _Enemy fire pinned the patrol in the ruined farmhouse until nightfall._
17. In chess, to put an opposing piece in a pin, so that it cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece or its king.
   - Simple: In chess, to trap a piece so it can't move without putting a more important piece or the king in danger.
   - _With the bishop on g5, Black's knight is pinned to the queen._
   - _Strong players often pin a piece first and then attack it with a pawn._
19. To drive an analog gauge to the top of its range, so that the needle rests against the stop pin.
   - Simple: To make the needle on a dial go all the way to the top and stop.
   - _Floor it on the straightaway and you'll pin the tachometer before the turn._
   - _The power surge pinned every needle on the control panel._

## Other meanings

- (verb) In programming, to fix an object at one place in memory so that it cannot be moved, or to make a program accept only one expected certificate or key from a server.
- (noun) A peg on a musical instrument that is turned to tighten or loosen its strings.
- (noun) The tenon in a dovetail joint, the part of one board that projects to fit into the other.
- (verb) To inject a substance in order to enhance physical or athletic performance.
- (noun) A single injection of performance-enhancing drugs.
- (verb) In backgammon variants such as Plakoto, to land a piece on an opposing blot, trapping it underneath until that piece moves away.
- (noun) In curling and archery, the exact center point of the target.
- (noun) A person's mood or frame of mind at a given time.
- (noun) One of a line of pegs set into an old drinking vessel, each showing how far down a drinker could go.
- (noun) Dimmed sight caused by a small cloudy spot on the cornea.
- (noun) A beer cask size holding one eighth of a barrel, which is half a firkin.
- (verb) To peen, beating or shaping metal by striking it, often with the rounded or wedge-shaped end of a hammer head.
- (noun) A clouding of the lens of the eye that blurs sight.
- (noun) An abbreviation for preferred IUPAC name, the single officially recommended name of a chemical compound.

## Origin

Old English pinn ("pin, peg, bolt") became Middle English pinne. It comes from Proto-Germanic *pinnaz ("protruding point, peg, nail") and perhaps from *bend-, a Proto-Indo-European word for a protruding object or pointed peg. Dutch pin, German Pinne and Icelandic pinni are relatives.

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