# pinch

Pronunciation: say "PINCH" /pɪnt͡ʃ/

## Verb

1. To squeeze a small fold of someone's skin and flesh hard enough to hurt.
   - Simple: To squeeze a little bit of someone's skin hard, so that it hurts.
   - _If you pinch the baby's cheek that hard, she's going to cry._
   - _The kids were sent to their rooms for pinching each other in the back seat._
5. To squeeze something between the thumb and forefinger.
   - Simple: To press something tightly between your thumb and first finger.
   - _Pinch the edges of the dumplings firmly so they don't open while cooking._
   - _He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes._
6. To steal something, usually something of little value. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To steal something, usually something small.
   - _Guests pinch the hotel's bathrobes so often that the staff now counts them._
   - _Someone pinched the last doughnut from the break room._
7. To squeeze something between two objects.
   - Simple: To press something tightly between two things.
   - _The elevator doors are designed so they won't pinch a child's hand as they close._
   - _A loose wire can get pinched between the panel and the frame and wear through._
8. Of clothing, to fit uncomfortably tight in particular places.
   - Simple: Of clothes or shoes, to be too tight in some places, so that they hurt.
   - _The boots looked great in the store, but they pinch across the toes._
   - _His starched collar pinched all through the ceremony._
10. To cramp, constrain or oppress, especially by leaving someone short of money, food or room.
   - Simple: To make life hard for people, often by leaving them without enough money, food or space.
   - _The budget cuts will pinch the smaller rural schools hardest._
   - _Years of drought had pinched the farming towns until half the stores on Main Street closed._
11. To arrest or capture someone. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To arrest someone or catch them.
   - _If the cops pinch you again, nobody is going to bail you out._
   - _Undercover officers pinched three suspects as they left the warehouse._
13. Of an animal, to seize, grip, or bite.
   - Simple: Of an animal, to grab, hold tight, or bite.
   - _The lobster pinched the diver's glove and would not let go._
   - _A terrier will pinch a rat by the neck and shake it until it goes still._
14. To nip off a plant's shoots or buds so as to shape it or make it more productive.
   - Simple: To cut off new shoots or buds so a plant grows in a better shape or produces more.
   - _Pinch out the side shoots on tomatoes so the plant puts its energy into fruit._
   - _Growers pinch chrysanthemums back in early summer to get more flowers in the fall._
18. To sail so close to the wind that the sails begin to flutter.
   - Simple: To sail a boat so nearly into the wind that the sails start to shake.
   - _The skipper kept pinching to clear the buoy, and the jib luffed every few seconds._
   - _Pinch too hard on the beat upwind and the boat stalls with its sails fluttering._
19. To move something, such as a railroad car, by prying at its wheels with a pinch.
   - Simple: To move a railroad car by pushing at its wheels with a metal bar.
   - _With no engine available, the crew pinched the empty car down to the loading dock._
   - _Two men can pinch a freight car along level track once the brakes are off._

## Noun

2. A small amount of a powder or granular substance, as much as can be held between the tip of a finger and the thumb.
   - Simple: A very small amount of something like salt, as much as you can hold between a finger and thumb.
   - _The recipe calls for a pinch of cayenne pepper and two cloves of garlic._
   - _He took a pinch of snuff from the little silver box._
3. An act of squeezing a small fold of someone's skin and flesh hard enough to hurt.
   - Simple: A hard squeeze of someone's skin that hurts.
   - _He woke his sleeping friend with a quick pinch on the arm._
   - _The toddler's pinches left little red marks on her mother's wrist._
4. A difficult situation, especially a financial or social one, that is hard to get out of.
   - Simple: A hard or awkward situation, often about money, that is difficult to get out of.
   - _When the shop lost its biggest customer, the owners found themselves in a serious pinch._
   - _In a pinch, the old couch in the den can sleep two guests._
9. A tight squeeze of something between the fingers.
   - Simple: A quick squeeze of something with your fingers.
   - _A quick pinch of the dough told the baker it needed more flour._
   - _Two firm pinches along the top sealed the plastic bag shut._
12. An arrest. *(slang)*
   - Simple: An arrest by the police.
   - _The detective made the pinch just as the suspect reached the airport._
   - _Two pinches in one month cost him his job at the casino._
15. The narrow neck joining the two bulbs of an hourglass.
   - Simple: The narrow middle of an hourglass, between its two glass parts.
   - _She watched the last grains of sand slip through the pinch._
   - _The glassblower narrowed the pinch so the hourglass would run for exactly three minutes._
16. A metal bar used as a lever for lifting heavy loads, moving wheels, and similar jobs.
   - Simple: A strong metal bar used to lift or move heavy things.
   - _The yard worker jammed a pinch under the wheel and levered the freight car forward a few inches._
   - _With a pinch and a block of wood, two men raised the beam high enough to slide rollers underneath._
17. The compression of an electrically conducting filament by magnetic forces.
   - Simple: The squeezing of a thin thread of material that carries electricity, caused by magnetism.
   - _In the experiment, a sudden pinch squeezed the plasma column into a thin, bright thread._
   - _Early fusion researchers hoped a strong enough pinch could hold hot plasma in place._

## Verb

20. To be tight-fisted or grasping with money, or to live frugally and do without. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To be greedy and unwilling to spend, or to live on as little as possible.
   - _For years the family pinched and spared to buy the little farm._
   - _Some misers pinch even when they have far more than they need._
21. To grumble or find fault. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To complain or say what is wrong with someone or something.

## Origin

From Middle English pinchen, from Old Northern French *pinchier (compare Old French pincier, pincer, "to pinch"), of uncertain origin. It is possibly from Vulgar Latin *pinciāre "to puncture, pinch", a merger of *punctiāre "to puncture, sting" (from Latin punctiō "a puncture, prick") and *piccāre "to strike, sting" (from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną "to pick, peck, prick").

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