Word Direct Answers

What does "pinch" mean?

Pinch: o seize; to grip; to bite; -- said of animals. [Obs.] He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down. Chapman.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To plait. [Obs.] Full seemly her wimple ipinched was. Chaucer.
  2. 3.Figuratively: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money. Want of room . . . pinching a whole nation. Sir W. Raleigh.
  3. 4.To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch. See Pinch, n., 4.
  4. 5.To act with pressing force; to compress; to squeeze; as, the shoe pinches."
  5. 6.(Hunt.) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does. [Obs.]
  6. 7.To spare; to be niggardly; to be covetous. Gower. The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare. Franklin. To pinch at, to find fault with; to take exception to. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  7. 8.A close compression, as with the ends of the fingers, or with an instrument; a nip.
  8. 9.As much as may be taken between the finger and thumb; any very small quantity; as, a pinch of snuff.
  9. 10.Pian; pang. "Necessary's sharp pinch." Shak.
  10. 11.A lever having a projection at one end, acting as a fulcrum, -- used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, etc. Called also pinch bar. At a pinch, On a pinch, in an emergency; as, he could on a pinch read a little Latin.

Sources