pinch

Meaning

Verb

1. To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
2. To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
3. To squeeze between two objects.
4. (intransitive) Of clothing, to be uncomfortably tight in specific spots.
5. (slang, transitive) To steal, usually something inconsequential.
6. (slang, transitive) To arrest or capture.
7. To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
8. To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
9. To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To be stingy or covetous; to live sparingly.
11. To seize; to grip; to bite.
12. (figuratively) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.
13. To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.
14. (obsolete) To complain or find fault.

Noun

1. The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
2. A close compression of anything with the fingers.
3. A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
4. An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
5. A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.
6. An organic herbal smoke additive.
7. A magnetic compression of an electrically conducting filament.
8. The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.
9. (slang) An arrest.

Synonyms

nip

squeeze

steal

press

tweak

pilfer

swipe

filch

nick

purloin

clamp

🗜️

too tight

lift

sting

bite

arrest

hurt

grab

clip

snitch

hold

emergency

exigency

pluck

make narrow

little bit

squash

sneak

bit

gunpowder

catch

snatch

compress

press together

oppress

dash

💨

clutch

thieve

nab

straits

clasp

speck

crush

hook

🪝

crisis

snip

grip

fix

enclose

rob

Translations

pincer

pellizcar

pizzicare

kneifen

pellizco

zwicken

beliscar

pincée

pizzico

knijpen

birlar

apretar

serrer

pizzicotto

klemmen

🗜️

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pɪnt͡ʃ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pinchen

Cognate with Old French: pincier

In summary

From Middle English pinchen, from Old Northern French *pinchier (compare Old French pincier, pincer (“to pinch”)), a word of uncertain origin, possibly from Vulgar Latin *pinciāre (“to puncture, pinch”), from a merger of *punctiāre (“to puncture, sting”), from Latin punctiō (“a puncture, prick”) and *piccāre (“to strike, sting”), from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick”). More at point, pick and pitch.