Word Direct Answers

What does "pivot" mean?

Pivot: The end of a shaft or arbor which rests and turns in a support; as, the pivot of an arbor in a watch.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Hence, figuratively: A turning point or condition; that on which important results depend; as, the pivot of an enterprise.
  2. 3.(Mil.) The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place whike the company or line moves around him in wheeling; -- called also pivot man. Pivot bridge, a form of drawbridge in which one span, called the pivot span, turns about a central vertical axis. -- Pivot gun, a gun mounted on a pivot or revolving carriage, so as to turn in any direction. -- Pivot tooth (Dentistry), an artificial crown attached to the root of a natural tooth by a pin or peg.
  3. 4.To place on a pivot. Clarke.

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