• enPR: pĭn, IPA: /pɪn/, [pʰɪn]

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.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 9”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

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

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

4. (wrestling, professional wrestling) The 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. (informal, in plural) A leg.

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

7. (electricity) Any 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.
9. (US) A 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: badge, lapel pin

10. (chess) A scenario in which moving a lesser piece to escape from attack would expose a more valuable piece to attack.
11. (golf) The flagstick: the flag-bearing pole which marks the location of a hole
12. (curling) The spot at the exact centre of the house (the target area)

    The shot landed right on the pin.

    • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iv]:

      the very pin of his heart cleft

13. (dated) A mood, a state of being.

    • a merry pin

14. One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each person should drink.
15. (medicine, obsolete) Caligo.
16. A thing of small value; a trifle.

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

17. A peg in musical instruments for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.
18. (engineering) A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.
19. The tenon of a dovetail joint.
20. (UK, brewing) A size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.
21. (informal) A pinball machine.

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

• (small nail) nail, tack
• (cylinder of wood or metal) peg
• (games) skittle
• (jewellery fastened with a pin) brooch

• French: épingle
• German: Stecknadel, Nadel
• Italian: spillo
• Portuguese: alfinete
• Russian: була́вка
• Spanish: alfiler, aguja

• Portuguese: tacha

• German: Stift, Bolzen
• Portuguese: pino
• Russian: штифт

• French: quille
• Italian: birillo
• Portuguese: pino
• Russian: ке́гля

• French: (informal) patte
• Russian: но́жка

• Portuguese: pino
• Russian: штырь
• Spanish: pin, conector

• French: pin's, épinglette, broche
• German: Anstecker
• Italian: spilla, spilletta
• Russian: бро́шка
• Spanish: pin

• French: clouage
• German: Fesselung
• Italian: inchiodatura
• Portuguese: cravado
• Russian: клин
• Spanish: clavado, clavada

pin (pins, present participle pinning; past and past participle pinned)

1. (often followed by a preposition such as "to" or "on") To fasten or attach (something) with a pin.
2. (chess, usually, in the passive) To cause (a piece) to be in a pin.
3. (wrestling) To pin down (someone).
4. To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
5. (computing, GUI, transitive) To attach (an icon, application, etc.) to another item.

   to pin a window to the Taskbar

6. (computing, transitive) To 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.

• French: épingler
• Italian: bloccare, appuntare, affibbiare
• Portuguese: alfinetar
• Spanish: clavar

• French: clouer
• Italian: inchiodare
• Spanish: clavar

pin (pins, present participle pinning; past and past participle pinned)

1. Alternative form of peen

pin (plural pins)

1. Acronym of personal identification number

• French: PIN, numéro d'identification personnel, NIP
• German: PIN-Code, PIN-Nummer, PIN, persönliche Identifikationsnummer, Geheimzahl
• Portuguese: PIN, número de identificação pessoal
• Russian: ПИН-ко́д

pin (plural pins)

1. (organic chemistry) Initialism of preferred IUPAC name