Adjacent Words

Pinch definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PINCH, v.t.
1. To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, the teeth, claws, or with an instrument, etc.
2. To squeeze or compress between any two hard bodies.
3. To squeeze the flesh till it is pained or livid.
4. To gripe; to straiten; to oppress with want; as, to pinch a nation; to pinch the belly; to be pinched for want of food.
5. To pain by constriction; to distress; as pinching cold. The winter pinches.
6. To press; to straiten by difficulties; as,the argument pinches the objector.
The respondent is pinched with a strong objection.
7. To press hard; to try thoroughly.
PINCH, v.i. To act with pressing force; to bear hard; to be puzzling. You see where the reasons pinch.
1. To spare; to be straitened; to be covetous.
The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare,
Starve, steal and pilfer to enrich an heir.
PINCH, n. A close compression with the ends of the fingers.
1. A gripe; a pang.
2. Distress inflected or suffered; pressure; oppression; as necessity's sharp pinch.
3. Straits; difficulty; time of distress from want.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a painful or straitened circumstance; "the pinch of the recession"
2: an injury resulting from getting some body part squeezed
3: a slight but appreciable amount; "this dish could use a touch of garlic" [syn: touch, hint, tinge, mite, pinch, jot, speck, soupcon]
4: a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action; "he never knew what to do in an emergency" [syn: emergency, exigency, pinch]
5: a small sharp bite or snip [syn: nip, pinch]
6: a squeeze with the fingers [syn: pinch, tweak]
7: the act of apprehending (especially apprehending a criminal); "the policeman on the beat got credit for the collar" [syn: apprehension, arrest, catch, collar, pinch, taking into custody] v
1: squeeze tightly between the fingers; "He pinched her behind"; "She squeezed the bottle" [syn: pinch, squeeze, twinge, tweet, nip, twitch]
2: make ridges into by pinching together [syn: crimp, pinch]
3: make off with belongings of others [syn: pilfer, cabbage, purloin, pinch, abstract, snarf, swipe, hook, sneak, filch, nobble, lift]
4: cut the top off; "top trees and bushes" [syn: top, pinch]
5: irritate as if by a nip, pinch, or tear; "smooth surfaces can vellicate the teeth"; "the pain is as if sharp points pinch your back" [syn: pinch, vellicate]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French *pincher, pincer Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to squeeze between the finger and thumb or between the jaws of an instrument b. to prune the tip of (a plant or shoot) usually to induce branching c. to squeeze or compress painfully d. to cause physical or mental pain to e. (1) to cause to appear thin, haggard, or shrunken (2) to cause to shrivel or wither 2. a. to subject to strict economy or want ; straiten b. to restrain or limit narrowly ; constrict 3. a. steal b. arrest 4. to sail too close to the wind intransitive verb 1. compress, squeeze 2. to be miserly or closefisted 3. to press painfully 4. narrow, taper <the road pinched down to a trail — Cecelia Holland> II. noun Date: 15th century 1. a. a critical juncture ; emergency b. (1) pressure, stress (2) hardship, privation c. deficit 2. a. an act of pinching ; squeeze b. as much as may be taken between the finger and thumb <a pinch of snuff> c. a very small amount 3. a marked thinning of a vein or bed 4. a. theft b. a police raid; also arrest Synonyms: see juncture III. adjective Date: 1912 1. substitute <pinch runner> 2. hit by a pinch hitter <a pinch homer>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. a grip (esp. the skin of part of the body or of another person) tightly, esp. between finger and thumb (pinched my finger in the door; stop pinching me). b (often absol.) (of a shoe, garment, etc.) constrict (the flesh) painfully. 2 tr. (of cold, hunger, etc.) grip (a person) painfully (she was pinched with cold). 3 tr. sl. a steal; take without permission. b arrest (a person) (pinched him for loitering). 4 (as pinched adj.) (of the features) drawn, as with cold, hunger, worry, etc. 5 a tr. (usu. foll. by in, of, for, etc.) stint (a person). b intr. be niggardly with money, food, etc. 6 tr. (usu. foll. by out, back, down) Hort. remove (leaves, buds, etc.) to encourage bushy growth. 7 intr. sail very close to the wind. --n. 1 the act or an instance of pinching etc. the flesh. 2 an amount that can be taken up with fingers and thumb (a pinch of snuff). 3 the stress or pain caused by poverty, cold, hunger, etc. 4 sl. a an arrest. b a theft. Phrases and idioms: at (or in) a pinch in an emergency; if necessary. feel the pinch experience the effects of poverty. pinch-hitter US 1 a baseball player who bats instead of another in an emergency. 2 a person acting as a substitute. Etymology: ME f. AF & ONF pinchier (unrecorded), OF pincier, ult. f. L pungere punct- prick

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pinch Pinch, v. t. To seize by way of theft; to steal; also, to catch; to arrest. [Slang] --Robert Barr.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pinch Pinch, v. i. 1. To act with pressing force; to compress; to squeeze; as, the shoe pinches. 2. (Hunt.) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does. [Obs.] 3. To spare; to be niggardly; to be covetous. --Gower. The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare. --Franklin. To pinch at, to find fault with; to take exception to. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pinch Pinch, n. 1. A close compression, as with the ends of the fingers, or with an instrument; a nip. 2. As much as may be taken between the finger and thumb; any very small quantity; as, a pinch of snuff. 3. Pian; pang. ``Necessary's sharp pinch.'' --Shak. 4. A lever having a projection at one end, acting as a fulcrum, -- used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, etc. Called also pinch bar. At a pinch, On a pinch, in an emergency; as, he could on a pinch read a little Latin.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pinch Pinch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pinched; p. pr. & vb. n. Pinching.] [F. pincer, probably fr. OD. pitsen to pinch; akin to G. pfetzen to cut, pinch; perhaps of Celtic origin. Cf. Piece.] 1. To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, between teeth or claws, or between the jaws of an instrument; to squeeze or compress, as between any two hard bodies. 2. o seize; to grip; to bite; -- said of animals. [Obs.] He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down. --Chapman. 3. To plait. [Obs.] Full seemly her wimple ipinched was. --Chaucer. 4. Figuratively: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money. Want of room . . . pinching a whole nation. --Sir W. Raleigh. 5. To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch. See Pinch, n., 4.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pinches, pinching, pinched) 1. If you pinch a part of someone's body, you take a piece of their skin between your thumb and first finger and give it a short squeeze. She pinched his arm as hard as she could... We both kept pinching ourselves to prove that it wasn't all a dream. VERB: V n, V pron-refl • Pinch is also a noun. She gave him a little pinch. N-COUNT 2. A pinch of an ingredient such as salt is the amount of it that you can hold between your thumb and your first finger. Put all the ingredients, including a pinch of salt, into a food processor. to take something with a pinch of salt: see salt N-COUNT: usu N of n 3. To pinch something, especially something of little value, means to steal it. (INFORMAL) ...pickpockets who pinched his wallet. VERB: V n 4. If you say that something is possible at a pinch, or in American English if you say that something is possible in a pinch, you mean that it would be possible if it was necessary, but it might not be very comfortable or convenient. Six people, and more at a pinch, could be seated comfortably at the table. PHRASE: PHR with cl/group 5. If a person or company is feeling the pinch, they do not have as much money as they used to, and so they cannot buy the things they would like to buy. Consumers are spending less and traders are feeling the pinch. PHRASE: V inflects

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Nip, squeeze, compress, gripe. 2. Oppress, straiten, distress, afflict. 3. Frost, nip, injure with frost. 4. Press hard, try thoroughly. II. v. n. 1. Bear hard. 2. Spare, stint, be niggardly, be parsimonious, be frugal, economize. III. n. 1. Nip, gripe. 2. Gripe, pang, throe. 3. Emergency, exigency, crisis, strait, difficulty, push, pressure, oppression. 4. Crowbar, iron lever. 5. Small quantity.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

At a pinch; on an exigency.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To go into a tradesman's shop under the pretence of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat. Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again, and return the change, by which means several bad shillings are passed.

Moby Thesaurus

abstract, ace, acute pain, afflict, agonize, ail, alternate, alternative, and, annex, apprehend, apprehension, approach, appropriate, arrest, arrestation, arrestment, atom, backup, bag, bare cupboard, bare subsistence, beat, beat to windward, beggarliness, beggary, begrudge, bind, bit, bite, boost, boring pain, borrow, breakers ahead, burglary, burn, bust, caper, capture, cardhouse, catch, cause for alarm, center, centralize, chafe, charley horse, clamp, clamping, clamping down, climacteric, close, close in, close up, close with, close-haul, clutch, collar, come together, complication, compress, compression, compulsion, concenter, concentralize, concentrate, confine, constraint, contingency, converge, convergence of events, convulse, cop, counterfeit, cramp, cramps, crib, crick, crisis, critical juncture, critical point, crossroads, crucial period, crucify, crunch, crush, crux, cubby, cubbyhole, cut, dab, danger, dangerous ground, darting pain, defraud, deprivation, destitution, difficulty, dilemma, distress, doghouse, dole, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, drive, dummy, dwarf, economize, embarrassing position, embarrassment, embezzle, emergency, empty purse, endangerment, ensphere, equivalent, ersatz, exact, excruciate, exigency, extort, extremity, fake, fall in with, famish, farthing, fester, filch, fine how-do-you-do, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, fret, fulgurant pain, funnel, gall, gaping chasm, gathering clouds, girdle pain, give pain, gnaw, gnawing, gobbet, gouge, grab, grain, granule, grasp, grate, grind, grinding poverty, grip, gripe, griping, groat, grudge, hair, hand-to-mouth existence, handful, harrow, hazard, heist, hell to pay, high pressure, hinge, hitch, hobble, hole, homelessness, hook, hot water, house of cards, how-do-you-do, hurt, imbroglio, imitation, imperativeness, imperilment, impoverishment, impulse, impulsion, indigence, inflame, inflict pain, intersect, iota, irritate, jam, jeopardy, job, joker, jot, jumping pain, kill by inches, kink, knock off, lacerate, lack, lancinating pain, lift, little, little bit, live upon nothing, luff, luff up, make a pinch, make off with, makeshift, martyr, martyrize, meet, menace, mendicancy, mess, minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, mix, mock, modicum, molecule, moneylessness, morass, mote, nab, narrow the gap, necessitousness, necessity, need, neediness, netting, nick, nip, nutshell, ounce, pain, palm, pang, parlous straits, paroxysm, particle, pass, pauperism, pauperization, pebble, penury, peril, phony, pickle, pickup, pierce, pigeonhole, pilfer, pinch pennies, pittance, playhouse, plight, ply, poach, point, predicament, press, pressure, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, prick, privation, prolong the agony, provisional, proxy, pull in, purloin, push, put to torture, quagmire, quicksand, rack, rankle, rash impulse, rasp, reserve, rip-off, risk, rob, robbery, rocks ahead, rub, run away with, run in, run together, rustle, sail fine, save, scamp, scant, scrape, screw, scrimp, scrounge, scruple, secondary, seizure, shake, sharp pain, shoot, shooting, shooting pain, shoplift, skimp, slough, smidgen, smidgin, smitch, snag, snare, snatch, snitch, soupcon, spare, spasm, speck, spoonful, spot, squeeze, squeezing, stab, stabbing pain, starve, steal, stew, sticky wicket, sting, stint, stitch, stopgap, storm clouds, strait, straits, stress, substitute, swamp, swindle, swipe, tad, take, take into custody, taper, taste, temporary, tension, tentative, theft, thieve, thimbleful, thin ice, threat, thrill, throes, tight spot, tight squeeze, tighten, tightening, tightrope, tiny bit, tittle, tormen, torment, torture, touch, touch the wind, tricky spot, trifling amount, trivia, turn, turning, turning point, tweak, twinge, twist, twitch, unholy mess, unite, urge, urgency, utility, vicarious, wad up, walk off with, want, whit, wound, wrench, wring