pinch

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpinchpinch1 /pɪntʃ/ verb 1 [transitive]PRESS to press a part of someone’s skin very tightly between your finger and thumb, especially so that it hurts We have to stop her pinching her baby brother. He pinched her cheek.► see thesaurus at hurt2 STEAL[transitive] British English informal to steal something, especially something small or not very valuable Someone’s pinched my coat!► see thesaurus at steal3 [transitive] to press something between your finger and thumb Pinch the edges of the pastry together to seal it.4 [intransitive, transitive]PRESS if something you are wearing pinches you, it presses painfully on part of your body, because it is too tight Her new shoes were pinching. 5 → somebody has to pinch themselves6 [transitive] British English old-fashionedCATCH to arrest someoneGrammar Pinch is usually passive in this meaning. → pinch something ↔ out→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpuspinch• She pinched her own arm until it was black and blue.• It was one of the slimmest, and the envelopes in it were pinched in slightly by the pressure of the bands.• Dad! Katy just pinched me!• Stop pinching me!• These shoes pinch my toes.• These fellows for fun would pinch one and put it on another step, and do this going all down the road.• He pinched some out and cleaned it on a crumpled paper bag, not knowing what to say.• He pinched the last quarter inch of his cigarette tightly, and sucked on it so hard it squeaked. pinchpinch2 noun [countable] 1 → pinch of salt/pepper etc2 PRESSwhen you press someone’s skin between your finger and thumb She gave him a playful pinch.3 → at a pinch4 → take something with a pinch of salt5 → feel the pinchExamples from the Corpuspinch• Grandma gave us both a pinch on the cheek.• Among insurance companies, he could win any case in a pinch.• I take all that fame with a pinch of salt.• Mark on veins and pinch base together to shape.• Duquette, pinch hitting for manager Kevin Kennedy, voiced his views at a BoSox Club luncheon.• Hunt evening coat, waistcoat fitting him with the same exact pinch as waistcoats had when he was twenty.• At significant times in the day we have got real pinch points on corridors, particularly motorways.• Small businesses dependent on the government also are feeling the pinch.Origin pinch1 (1200-1300) From an unrecorded Old North French pinchier

Quizzes

Take our quick quizzes to practise your vocabulary.
We have thousands of six-question quizzes to try.
Choose from collocations, synonyms, phrasal verbs and more.

More results

See all results

Pictures of the day

What are these?

Click on the pictures to check.

Explore topics

See all topics

Word of the day payment an amount of money that has been or must be paid

Verb table

pinch

Simple Form
Present
I, you, we, they	pinch
he, she, it	pinches
> View More
Past
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	pinched
Present perfect
I, you, we, they	have pinched
he, she, it	has pinched
Past perfect
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	had pinched
Future
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will pinch
Future perfect
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will have pinched
> View Less

Continuous Form
Present
I	am pinching
he, she, it	is pinching
> View More
you, we, they	are pinching
Past
I, he, she, it	was pinching
you, we, they	were pinching
Present perfect
I, you, we, they	have been pinching
he, she, it	has been pinching
Past perfect
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	had been pinching
Future
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will be pinching
Future perfect
I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will have been pinching
> View Less