bin

plural bins

1. A box, frame, crib, or enclosed place, used as a storage container.

   a corn bin

   2 more examples

   a wine bin

   a coal bin

   Synonyms: container, receptacle

2. A container for rubbish or waste.

   an ashes bin

   3 more examples

   a rubbish bin

   a wastepaper bin

   British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.

   2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

   Synonyms: dustbin, rubbish bin, garbage can, trash can, garbage can, garbage pail, trash bin, trash can

3. mathematicsAny of the discrete intervals in a histogram, etc
4. Any of the fixed-size chunks into which airspace is divided for the purposes of radar.
5. Multicultural London EnglishslanguncommonJail or prison.

   Free up my G's locked in the bin Jail house comin' like subs one comes out then one goes in

   2018 October 22, “Subs”, Slipz of Hoxton (lyrics)

   Synonyms: big house, borstal, bridewell, brig, calaboose, can, chokey, choky

6. abbreviationellipsisslangEllipsis of loony bin (“lunatic asylum”).

   “She’s crazy,” I said. “She should be in a bin.”

   1988, Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

   1 more example

   At the moment, and in "an emergency", you or I could be sent to the bin, willy-nilly, on the say-so of a single doctor (who may never have seen us before, and need have no particular experience of mental illness), so long as the application is supported by one of our relatives, or by a "social worker".

   1973, New Scientist, volume 58, number 852, page 822

7. video post-productionA digital file folder for organising media in a non-linear editing program.

present singular third person bins · participle present binning · participle past binned · past binned

1. UKinformalTo dispose of (something) by putting it into a bin, or as if putting it into a bin.

   He put the bank statement in the shoebox marked "Bank Statements" and binned the rest.

   2008, Tom Holt, Falling Sideways, Orbit books,, →ISBN, page 28

   Synonyms: chuck, chuck away, discard, dump, junk, 86, can, cast aside

2. UKinformalTo throw away, reject, give up.

   This splendid eloquence was promptly binned by the pope, […]

   2002, Christopher Harvie, Scotland: A Short History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 59

   2 more examples

   The CC [Co-ordinating Centre] had long since binned the idea of catching the regular shuttle service, […]

   2005, Ian Oliver, War and peace in the Balkans: the diplomacy of conflict in the former Yugoslavia, I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 238

   NR also wants more effort made to bin out-of-date 1970s technology, but only replacing it with equipment that meets customer needs, rather than high-tech kit just for the sake of it.

   2021 September 22, Howard Johnston, “NR: stop firefighting and plan for long-term progress”, in RAIL, number 940, page 11

3. mathematicsTo convert continuous data into discrete groups.
4. transitiveTo place into a bin for storage.

   to bin wine

1. son of; equivalent to Hebrew בן (ben).

1. InternetabbreviationcontractionContraction of being.

1. InternetalternativedialectalobsoleteAlternative form of been.

   Many of the lupus piscis I have seen, and have bin informed by the king's fishmonger they are taken on our coast […]

   1669, Christopher Merrett, letter to Thomas Browne

   1 more example

   ‘Mebbe you’re right, Jed. Mebbe you’re right,’ sighed Peter. ‘I don’t see how you missed your master’s license, though. ’Twould ha’ bin fitter for a master to own shares in his ship than a fust mate.’

   1930, Captain Dingle, “In Conclusion” (chapter 34), in Seaworthy, Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 274

plural bins

1. abbreviationclippingcountableuncountablecomputingClipping of binary.

plural Bins

1. A surname from Chinese.