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pinch

Pronunciation: /pɪn(t)ʃ/
Translate pinch | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of pinch

verb

[with object]
  • 1grip (something, typically a person’s flesh) tightly and sharply between finger and thumb:she pinched his cheek
  • (of a shoe) hurt (a foot) by being too tight: Mrs Grandison’s pointed, Italian-style shoes were already beginning to pinch her feet [no object]:if your shoes pinch, take them off
  • compress (one’s lips), especially from worry or tension: Aunt Rose pinched her thin lips together
  • 2 [no object] live in a frugal way:if I scraped and pinched a bit, I might manage
  • 3 informal steal or take without permission:he pinched a handful of sweets
  • British arrest (someone):I was pinched for dangerous driving last month
  • 4remove (buds or leaves) from a plant to encourage bushy growth: pinch out tips of shoots regularly
  • 5 Sailing sail (a boat) so close to the wind that the sails begin to lose power.

noun

  • 1an act of pinching someone:he gave her a gentle pinch
  • an amount of an ingredient that can be held between fingers and thumb:add a pinch of salt
  • 2 Baseball a critical point in the game.

Phrases

at (or North American in) a pinch

if absolutely necessary: the rear will accommodate two adults or three smaller people at a pinch

feel the pinch

experience hardship, especially financial: staff were beginning to feel the pinch as the dispute entered its third week

have to pinch oneself

used to convey that a good situation is so surprising that the person involved has to make sure they are not imagining it:sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize it isn’t all a dream

Origin:

Middle English (as a verb): from an Old Northern French variant of Old French pincier 'to pinch'

pinch in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of pinch in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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