pin

pin1 [ pın ] noun count **

1. ) a small thin piece of metal with a sharp point, used for holding cloth in place while you are sewing

2. ) a piece of jewelry that you wear on your clothes. British brooch

a ) a thin pointed piece of metal worn on your clothes as jewelry or to hold something in place:

His tie was held in place with a small diamond pin.

3. ) a thin piece of metal or wood, used especially to hold things together:

Steel pins held the handles in position.

a ) one of the metal parts of an electrical PLUG that fits into the wall:

a three-pin plug

b ) the metal part that a soldier pulls out of a HAND GRENADE before throwing it

c ) a thin piece of metal that a doctor puts through a broken bone to support it

4. ) one of the tall objects that you knock over in the game of BOWLING

you could hear a pin drop MAINLY SPOKEN

used for emphasizing how quiet a place is when no one is talking

=> PINS AND NEEDLES

pin

pin 2 [ pın ] verb transitive **

1. ) to fasten something or hold it in place using pins:

pin to: Maps were pinned to the walls.

pin on: She pinned the brooch on her dress.

Lucy pinned back her hair and began to put on her makeup.

2. ) pin someone to/against/on something to hold someone very firmly so that they cannot move:

He had my shoulders pinned to the floor.

Two heavily built men pinned him against the wall.

pin your hopes/faith on

to hope very much that someone or something will succeed when everyone or everything else has failed

pin something on someone

to blame someone for something, often when they are not responsible:

He has managed to pin the blame on the previous government.

They can't pin anything on to him.

,pin `down phrasal verb transitive

1. ) to hold someone firmly on the ground so that they cannot move

2. ) to understand or describe something exactly:

Officials are trying to pin down the cause of widespread power outages.

3. ) to force someone to make a decision about something:

We finally pinned him down and got him to agree to a meeting.

4. ) to keep soldiers in a place so that they cannot move:

The Allied armies had been pinned down by the Germans.

,pin `up phrasal verb transitive

1. ) to attach a picture to a wall

2. ) to make the lower edge of a piece of clothing shorter by using pins