pin

plural pins

1. A needle without an eye (usually) made of drawn-out steel wire with one end sharpened and the other flattened or rounded into a head, used for fastening.

   With pins of adamant / And chains they made all fast.

   1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

2. A small nail with a head and a sharp point.

   Synonyms: nail, tack

3. A cylindrical piece of solid material, often of wood or metal, used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts.

   Pull the pin out of the grenade before throwing it at the enemy.

   Synonyms: peg

4. governmentThe victory condition of holding the opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time.
5. A slender object specially designed for use in a specific game or sport, such as skittles or bowling.
6. in pluralinformalA leg.

   I'm not so good on my pins these days.

7. businessAny of the individual connecting elements of a multipole electrical connector.

   The UK standard connector for domestic mains electricity has three pins.

8. A piece of jewellery that is attached to clothing with a pin.

   Synonyms: brooch

9. USA simple accessory that can be attached to clothing with a pin or fastener, often round and bearing a design, logo or message, and used for decoration, identification or to show political affiliation, etc.

   Synonyms: lapel pin, badge

10. board gamesEither a scenario in which moving a lesser piece to escape from attack would expose a more valuable piece to being taken instead, or one where moving a piece is impossible as it would place the king in check.
11. golfThe flagstick: the flag-bearing pole which marks the location of a hole
12. ball gamesThe spot at the exact centre of the house (the target area)

    The shot landed right on the pin.

13. archeryThe spot at the exact centre of the target, originally a literal pin that fastened the target in place.

    the very pin of his heart cleft

    c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]

    1 more example

    For kings are clouts that euery man ſhoots at, Our Crowne the pin that thouſands ſeeke to cleaue.

    c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv

14. obsoleteA mood, a state of being.

    he had made the sign of the Cross on his head; for he was then on a merry pin and full of jearing

    1653, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC

    1 more example

    Hee sett Promethius, on a merrye pynn, / Whoe dranke soe devillishly, that there he gott / A terrible heartburninge, […]

    c. 1631–1633 (first performance), [John Clavell], edited by John Henry Pyle Pafford and W[alter] W[ilson] Greg, The Soddered Citizen (The Malone Society Reprints; 82), London: […] [F]or the Malone Society by John Johnson at the Oxford University Press, published 1936, →OCLC, Act II, scene v, folio 14ᵃ, page 45, lines 1030–1032

15. One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each person should drink.
16. obsoletemedicineCaligo.

    Blind with the pin and web

    c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

17. A thing of small value; a trifle.

    He […] did not care a pin for her.

    1712 February 17 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, February 7, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 295; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

18. A peg in musical instruments for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.
19. engineeringA short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.
20. The tenon of a dovetail joint.
21. UKbeveragesA size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.

    Our ground crew were lodged in the main station, but they came to the cottage for a party when operations for the night had been cancelled and we had a new ‘gong’ (decoration) to celebrate. On these occasions we always installed a pin of bitter.

    1978, Hugh Verity, chapter 2, in We landed by moonlight, Manchester: Crécy Publishing, →ISBN, page 22=

22. informalA pinball machine.

    I spent most of my time in the arcade playing pins.

    1 more example

    Attracted by game operation, many invested heavily in pins and rolldowns prior to last spring.

    1949, Billboard, volume 61, page 82

23. A small cylindrical object which blocks the rotation of a pin-tumbler lock when the incorrect key is inserted.
24. slangbodybuildingAn injection of PEDs.

present singular third person pins · participle present pinning · participle past pinned · past pinned

1. oftenTo fasten or attach (something) with a pin.
2. usually passive voiceboard gamesTo cause (a piece) to be in a pin.
3. governmentTo pin down (someone).

   He pinned his opponent on the mat.

4. To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
5. transitivecomputingTo attach (an icon, application, message etc.) to another item so that it persists.

   to pin a folder to the taskbar

   Antonyms: unpin

6. transitivecomputingTo fix (an array in memory, a security certificate, etc.) so that it cannot be modified.

   When marshaling data, the interop marshaler can copy or pin the data being marshaled.

   1 more example

   […] you can use the GCHandle class mentioned earlier to pin a heap block until you explicitly unpin it.

   2012, Ian Griffiths, Programming C# 5.0, page 244

   Antonyms: unpin

7. transitiveTo cause an analog gauge to reach the stop pin at the high end of the range.

   Now I need to pin those needles.

   1979, Al Greenwood, Lou Gramm, “Rev on the Red Line”, in Head Games

   Synonyms: peg

8. ambitransitiveslangbodybuildingTo inject for performance enhancement.
9. backgammonTo move a piece onto a blot, preventing the piece from further movement.

present singular third person pins · participle present pinning · participle past pinned · past pinned

1. alternativeAlternative form of peen.

plural pins

1. A cataract of the eye.

plural PINs · alternative PIN number

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of personal identification number.

   Thomas, who appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court in Hampshire via videolink, is also charged with failing to disclose the PIN to his phone.

   2026 September 25, Steve Humphrey, “Daniel Thomas pleads not guilty after dinghy slashed”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 25 Sep 2026, retrieved 26 Sep 2026

plural PINs

1. abbreviationinitialismchemistryInitialism of preferred IUPAC name.