pins

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pin.

   The tailor used dozens of pins to hold the fabric in place.

   All ten pins toppled after his final throw down the lane.

   Note

   A regular plural that does more work than most. Beside sewing pins, bowling pins and the metal cylinders that join two moving parts, it carries an informal word for legs that exists only in the plural: someone shaky on their pins, a sprinter with fast pins. Nobody says a single leg is a pin, so that sense lives in this form alone.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of pin.

   She pins the recipe card to the fridge so she won't lose it.

   The champion pins each new challenger within seconds of the bell.

   Note

   Spelled exactly like the plural noun, so only the sentence tells them apart: she pins the hem, but the pins are in the box. The verb's range has grown well beyond dressmaking. A user pins a message so it stays at the top, a program pins a certificate so it cannot be altered, and a wrestler pins down an opponent.

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