pin

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small, slender, often pointed piece of wood or metal used to support or fasten or attach things

   I had no time for repairs, so my outfit was held together with pins.

2. 2
   verb

   to hold fast or prevent from moving

   The child was pinned under the fallen tree

3. 3
   verb

   attach or fasten with pins or as if with pins

   pin the needle to the shirt. pin the blame on the innocent man

4. 4
   verb

   pierce with a pin

   pin down the butterfly

5. 5
   noun

   a number you choose and use to gain access to various accounts

   I have so many personal identification numbers that I can hardly remember them anymore.

6. 6
   noun

   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.

   With pins of adamant / And chains they made all fast.

7. 7
   noun

   A cylinder often of wood or metal used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts.

   Pull the pin out of the grenade before throwing it at the enemy.

8. 8
   noun

   A leg.

   I'm not so good on my pins these days.

Etymology

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 classica…