- Pinched
- Pinch Pinch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pinched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Pinching}.] [F. pincer, probably fr. OD. pitsen to pinch;
akin to G. pfetzen to cut, pinch; perhaps of Celtic origin.
Cf. {Piece}.]
1. To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers,
between teeth or claws, or between the jaws of an
instrument; to squeeze or compress, as between any two
hard bodies.
[1913 Webster]
2. to seize; to grip; to bite; -- said of animals. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down. --Chapman. [1913 Webster]
3. To plait. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Full seemly her wimple ipinched was. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
4. Figuratively: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money. [1913 Webster]
Want of room . . . pinching a whole nation. --Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster]
5. To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch. See {Pinch}, n., 4. [1913 Webster]
6. To seize by way of theft; to steal; to lift. [Slang] --Robert Barr. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
7. to catch; to arrest (a criminal). [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
