pin

Meaning

Noun

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.
2. A small nail with a head and a sharp point.
3. A cylinder often of wood or metal used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts.
4. The victory condition of holding the opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time.
5. A slender object specially designed for use in a specific game or sport, such as skittles or bowling.
6. (in-plural, informal) A leg.
7. Any of the individual connecting elements of a multipole electrical connector.
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.
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.
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)
13. The spot at the exact centre of the target, originally a literal pin that fastened the target in place.
14. (obsolete) A mood, a state of being.
15. One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each person should drink.
16. (obsolete) Caligo.
17. A thing of small value; a trifle.
18. A peg in musical instruments for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.
19. A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.
20. The tenon of a dovetail joint.
21. (UK) A size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.
22. (informal) A pinball machine.
23. A small cylindrical object which blocks the rotation of a pin-tumbler lock when the incorrect key is inserted.
24. (slang) An injection of PEDs.

Verb

1. (often) To fasten or attach (something) with a pin.
2. To cause (a piece) to be in a pin.
3. To pin down (someone).
4. To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
5. (transitive) To attach (an icon, application, message etc.) to another item so that it persists.
6. (transitive) To fix (an array in memory, a security certificate, etc.) so that it cannot be modified.
7. (transitive) To cause an analog gauge to reach the stop pin at the high end of the range.
8. (ambitransitive, slang) To inject for performance enhancement.
9. To move a piece onto a blot, preventing the piece from further movement.

Verb

Alternative form of peen.

Opposite of

unpin

Synonyms

peg

needle

fasten

nail

brooch

tack

key

🔑

dowel

clasp

attach

bolt

bowling pin

fix

wedge

skittle

cotter

thorn

fall

stick

spike

safety pin

🧷

bond

clip

affix

immobilize

hold

flag

bind

skewer

pin tumbler

thumbtack

rowlock

stake

pivot

pin up

post

pintle

prickle

linchpin

league

leg

🦵

catch

join

immobilise

ninepin

link

🔗

cam

finger

freeze

cone

Translations

épingle

alfiler

Stecknadel

spillo

alfinete

speld

spilla

Stift

pino

καρφίτσα

goupille

broche

perno

clavar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pinne

Inherited from Old English: pinn

Cognate with Dutch: pin

Cognate with Low German: pin

Cognate with German: Pinn

Cognate with Bavarian: Pfonzer

Cognate with Danish: pind

Cognate with Norwegian: pinn

Cognate with Swedish: pinne

Cognate with Icelandic: pinni

Cognate with Latin: pinna

Cognate with Latin: penna

In summary

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”).
Cognate with Dutch pin (“peg, pin”), Low German pin, pinne (“pin, point, nail, peg”), German Pinn, Pinne (“pin, tack, peg”), Bavarian Pfonzer, Pfunzer (“sharpened point”), Danish pind (“pin, pointed stick”), Norwegian pinn (“stick”), Swedish pinne (“peg, rod, stick”), Icelandic pinni (“pin”). More at pintle.
No relation to classical Latin pinna (“fin, flipper, wing-like appendage, wing, feather”), which was extended to mean "ridge, peak, point" (compare pinnacle), and often confused with Latin penna (“wing, feather”). More at feather and pen (Etymology 3).