Adjacent Words

Hinge definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HINGE, n. hinj. [This word appears to be connected with hang,and with angle,the verb.]
1. The hook or joint on which a door or gate turns.
The gate self-opened wide
On golden hinges turning.
2. That on which any thing depends or turns; a governing principle, rule or point. This argument was the hinge on which the question turned.
3. A cardinal point; as east, west, north or south. [Little used.]
To be off the hinges, is to be in a state of disorder or irregularity.
HINGE, v.t. To furnish with hinges.
1. To bend. [Little used.]
HINGE, v.i. To stand, depend or turn, as on a hinge. The question hinges on this single point.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other [syn: hinge, flexible joint]
2: a circumstance upon which subsequent events depend; "his absence is the hinge of our plan" v
1: attach with a hinge

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English heng; akin to Middle Dutch henge hook, Old English hangian to hang Date: 14th century 1. a. a jointed or flexible device on which a door, lid, or other swinging part turns b. a flexible ligamentous joint c. a small piece of thin gummed paper used in fastening a postage stamp in an album 2. a determining factor ; turning point II. verb (hinged; hinging) Date: 1719 intransitive verb to be contingent on a single consideration or point — used with on or upon <the prosecution's case hinges on the DNA evidence> transitive verb to attach by or furnish with hinges

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a a movable, usu. metal, joint or mechanism such as that by which a door is hung on a side post. b Biol. a natural joint performing a similar function, e.g. that of a bivalve shell. 2 a central point or principle on which everything depends. --v. 1 intr. (foll. by on) a depend (on a principle, an event, etc.) (all hinges on his acceptance). b (of a door etc.) hang and turn (on a post etc.). 2 tr. attach with or as if with a hinge. Phrases and idioms: stamp-hinge a small piece of gummed transparent paper used for fixing postage stamps in an album etc. Derivatives: hinged adj. hingeless adj. hingewise adv. Etymology: ME heng etc., rel. to HANG

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hinge Hinge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hinged; p. pr. & vb. n. Hinging.] 1. To attach by, or furnish with, hinges. 2. To bend. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hinge Hinge, v. i. To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; -- usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point. --I. Taylor

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hinge Hinge, n. [OE. henge, heeng; akin to D. heng, LG. henge, Prov. E. hingle a small hinge; connected with hang, v., and Icel. hengja to hang. See Hang.] 1. The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door, gate, lid, etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a strip of leather, which serves as a joint to turn on. The gate self-opened wide, On golden hinges turning. --Milton. 2. That on which anything turns or depends; a governing principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was the hinge on which the question turned. 3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [R.] When the moon is in the hinge at East. --Creech. Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad. --Milton. Hinge joint. (a) (Anat.) See Ginglymus. (b) (Mech.) Any joint resembling a hinge, by which two pieces are connected so as to permit relative turning in one plane. To be off the hinges, to be in a state of disorder or irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. --Tillotson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(hinges, hinging, hinged) A hinge is a piece of metal, wood, or plastic that is used to join a door to its frame or to join two things together so that one of them can swing freely. The top swung open on well-oiled hinges. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. tsir), that on which a door revolves. "Doors in the East turn rather on pivots than on what we term hinges. In Syria, and especially in the Hauran, there are many ancient doors, consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved out of the same piece inserted in sockets above and below, and fixed during the building of the house" (Prov. 26:14).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hinj (poth): Hinges of Jewish sacred buildings in Scripture are mentioned only in connection with Solomon's temple. Here those for the doors, both of the oracle and of the outer temple, are said to have been of gold (1Ki 7:50). By this is probably to be understood that the pivots upon which the doors swung, and which turned in the sockets of the threshold and the lintel, were cased in gold. The proverb, "As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the sluggard upon his bed" (Pr 26:14), describes the ancient mode of ingress and egress into important edifices. In the British Museum are many examples of stone sockets taken from Babylonian and Assyrian palaces and temples, engraved with the name and titles of the royal builder; while in the Hauran doors of a single slab of stone with stone pivots are still found in situ. Hinges, as we understand the word, were unknown in the ancient world.

See HOUSE, II, 1.

W. Shaw Caldecott

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Turn, depend, hang, be dependent.

Moby Thesaurus

accrue from, ankle, arbor, arise from, articulate, articulation, axis, axle, axle bar, axle shaft, axle spindle, axle-tree, batten, batten down, be based on, be contingent on, be dependent on, be due to, be predicated on, bolt, boundary, buckle, bud from, butt, button, cervix, clasp, cleat, climacteric, clinch, clip, closure, clutch, come from, come out of, connecting link, connecting rod, connection, convergence of events, coupling, crisis, critical juncture, critical point, crossroads, crucial period, crunch, depend, depend on, derive from, descend from, distaff, dovetail, elbow, emanate from, embrace, emerge from, emergency, ensue from, exigency, extremity, flow from, follow from, fulcrum, germinate from, gimbal, gliding joint, grow from, grow out of, gudgeon, hang, hang on, hasp, hinge on, hinged joint, hingle, hip, hitch, hook, hub, interface, issue from, jam, join, joining, joint, juncture, knee, knuckle, latch, lie on, lie with, link, lock, mandrel, miter, mortise, nail, nave, neck, oarlock, originate in, pass, peg, pin, pinch, pintle, pivot, pivot joint, pole, proceed from, push, rabbet, radiant, rest, rest on, rest with, revolve on, rivet, rowlock, rub, scarf, screw, seam, sew, shoulder, skewer, snap, spindle, spring from, sprout from, stand on, staple, stem from, stick, stitch, strait, suture, swivel, symphysis, tack, tie rod, toggle, toggle joint, trunnion, turn, turn on, turn upon, turning point, union, wedge, weld, wrist, zipper