linchpin

plural linchpins · alternative linch-pin · alternative lynchpin · alternative lynch-pin · alternative link-pin · alternative lin-pin

1. A pin inserted through holes at the end of an axle or shaft, so as to secure a wheel or shaft-mounted device.

   In ij camellis ferri vocatis lynspins emptis pro carectis iiijᵈ.

   1376–7, Compotus Roll Hyde Manor (In the manuscript deeds of Westminster Abbey)

   2 more examples

   Every design that villany could suggest was had recourse to in the hopes of nobbling Wild Dayrell; but never being left for an hour by either his trainer or jockey, he escaped the intended “coopering,” even when the lynchpins of the wheels of his van had been tampered with.

   1864 June 28, Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 8, page 110

   The axles were attached to the wooden floors with leather straps, the floor projecting on each side to take the wheels which were secured by linchpins to their outer faces.

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 79

   Synonyms: axlepin

2. figurativelyA central cohesive source of stability and security; a person or thing that is critical to a system or organisation.

   Community nurses have been described as the lynchpins of palliative care in the community.

   2013, Dvaid Sines, Community and Public Health Nursing, page 2006

   2 more examples

   What is difficult to appreciate, however, is the discrepancy between his statement to the 'Manchester Guardian' correspondent and his known abhorance for party politics, which is the lynchpin of modern democracy.

   1958, The Eastern Economist

   Second, QAnon, whose adherents have deep ties to countless other large communities, has become a linchpin in that ecosystem, and the absurdity of its claims in no way reduces its political influence.

   2020 October 20, Renée DiResta, “The Right’s Disinformation Machine Is Getting Ready for Trump to Lose”, in The Atlantic

   Synonyms: keystone

present singular third person linchpins · participle present linchpinning · participle past linchpinned · past linchpinned · alternative linch-pin · alternative lynchpin · alternative lynch-pin · alternative link-pin · alternative lin-pin

1. ambitransitiveTo adopt as, or serve as, a central cohesive source of stability and security.

   The poems turn fear of individual death into an audit of the costs of an aristocratic status quo which is linchpinned by a monarchy indulging in paradigms of social redress that have become cosmetic, opportunities for self-display rather than genuine justice.

   2013, Christine Chism, Alliterative Revivals, page 238