Word Direct Answers

What does "hinge" mean?

Hinge: That on which anything turns or depends; a governing principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was the hinge on which the question turned.

Additional senses

  1. 2.One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [R.] When the moon is in the hinge at East. Creech. Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad. Milton. Hinge joint. (a) (Anat.) See Ginglymus. (b) (Mech.) Any joint resembling a hinge, by which two pieces are connected so as to permit relative turning in one plane. -- To be off the hinges, to be in a state of disorder or irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. Tillotson.
  2. 3.To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.
  3. 4.To bend. [Obs.] Shak.
  4. 5.To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; -- usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point. I. Taylor

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