1. To squeeze between the thumb and a finger, the jaws of a tool, or other edges. 2. To squeeze or bind (a part of the body) in a way that causes discomfort or pain: These shoes pinch my toes.3. To nip, wither, or shrivel: buds that were pinched by the frost; a face that was pinched with grief.4. To straiten: “A year and a half of the blockade has pinched Germany” (William L. Shirer). 5.Slang To take (money or property) unlawfully. See synonyms at steal. 6.Slang To take into custody; arrest. 7. To move (something) with a pinch bar. 8.Nautical To sail (a boat) so close into the wind that its sails shiver and its speed is reduced.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To press, squeeze, or bind painfully: This collar pinches.2. To be miserly. 3.Nautical To drag an oar at the end of a stroke.
NOUN:
1. The act or an instance of pinching. 2. An amount that can be held between thumb and forefinger: a pinch of salt.3. A painful, difficult, or straitened circumstance: felt the pinch of the recession.4. An emergency situation: This coat will do in a pinch.5. A narrowing of a mineral deposit, as in a mine. 6.Informal A theft. 7.Slang An arrest by a law enforcement officer.
ADJECTIVE:
Baseball Relating to pinch-hitting or pinch runners: a pinch single; a pinch steal of third base.
IDIOM:
pinch penniesInformal To be thrifty or miserly.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English pinchen, from Old North French *pinchier, variant of Old French pincier, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *pnctire.
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