Meaning

25 senses
  1. A needle without an eye (usually) made of drawn-out steel wire with one end sharpened and the other flattened or rounded into a head, used for fastening.

    Stecknadel, Nadel

    була́вкаbulávka, шпи́лькаšpílʹka

    була́вкаbulávka, шпи́лькаšpýlʹka

  2. A small nail with a head and a sharp point.

    Reißnagel, Heftzwecke

  3. A cylindrical piece of solid material, often of wood or metal, used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts.

    Pull the pin out of the grenade before throwing it at the enemy.

    Stift, Bolzen

    штифтštift

    a small slender (often pointed) piece of wood or metal used to support or fasten or attach things

  4. The victory condition of holding the opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time.

    when a wrestler's shoulders are forced to the mat

  5. A slender object specially designed for use in a specific game or sport, such as skittles or bowling.

    Kegel

    ке́гляkéglja

  6. (in the plural, informal)A leg.

    I'm not so good on my pins these days.

    но́жкаnóžka

    informal terms for the leg

  7. Any of the individual connecting elements of a multipole electrical connector.

    The UK standard connector for domestic mains electricity has three pins.

    Pin

    штырьštyrʹ, ца́пфаcápfa

  8. A piece of jewellery that is attached to clothing with a pin.

  9. (US)A simple accessory that can be attached to clothing with a pin or fastener, often round and bearing a design, logo or message, and used for decoration, identification or to show political affiliation, etc.

    Anstecker, Anstecknadel, Pin

    бро́шкаbróška, брошьbrošʹ

  10. Either a scenario in which moving a lesser piece to escape from attack would expose a more valuable piece to being taken instead, or one where moving a piece is impossible as it would place the king in check.

    Fesselung

    клинklin

  11. The flagstick: the flag-bearing pole which marks the location of a hole

  12. The spot at the exact centre of the house (the target area)

    The shot landed right on the pin.

Examples

182 sentences
  1. Tom is hard to pin down.

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  2. It's quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

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  3. Tom tried to pin the blame on Mary.

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  4. You could hear a pin drop in the room.

    deMan konnte im Zimmer eine Stecknadel fallen hören.

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  5. I'm not trying to pin the blame on anyone.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
needle without an eye, used for fastening:
Русский
By meaning 8
needle without an eye, used for fastening:
cylinder of wood or metal used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts:
slender object specially designed for use in bowling:
informal: leg:
electricity: any of the individual connecting elements of a multi-pole electrical connector:
US: accessory attached with a pin; lapel pin:
in chess:
peg in musical instrument:
Deutsch
By meaning 7
needle without an eye, used for fastening:
small nail:
cylinder of wood or metal used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts:
slender object specially designed for use in bowling:
electricity: any of the individual connecting elements of a multi-pole electrical connector:
US: accessory attached with a pin; lapel pin:
in chess:

Origin

From Middle English pinne, from Old English pinn (“pin, peg, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *

From Middle English pinne, from Old English pinn (“pin, peg, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *pinnaz, *pinnō, *pint- (“protruding point, peak, peg, pin, nail”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“protruding object, pointed peg, nail, edge”). Related to pen (“enclosure”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: pins
Singularpin
Pluralpins

regular

Synonyms

19 synonyms
small nail:nailB1tackB2
cylinder of wood or metal:pegB2
jewellery fastened with a pin:brooch
Close in meaning
  • flagpole used to mark the position of the hole on a golf green:flag
  • cylindrical tumblers consisting of two parts that are held in place by springs; when they are aligned with a key the bolt can be thrown:pin tumbler
  • informal terms for the leg:pegstick
  • a club-shaped wooden object used in bowling; set up in triangular groups of ten as the target:bowling pin
  • a holder attached to the gunwale of a boat that holds the oar in place and acts as a fulcrum for rowing:pegtholetholepinrowlockoarlock
  • axis consisting of a short shaft that supports something that turns:pivot

Word family

146 related words

Collocations

3 patterns
  • a pin drop
  • pin drop
  • hear a pin

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
pin — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto