pin

noun25

1. •
   a tiny pointed wire with a round top, pushed through paper or material to hold it together

   • With pins of adamant / And chains they made all fast. — 1667
2. •
   A cylindrical piece of solid material, 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.
3. •
   A peg in musical instruments for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.
4. •
   A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.
5. •
   A small cylindrical object which blocks the rotation of a pin-tumbler lock when the incorrect key is inserted.
6. •
   A piece of jewellery that is attached to clothing with a pin.
7. •
   (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.
8. •
   A slender object specially designed for use in a specific game or sport, such as skittles or bowling.
9. •
   Any of the individual connecting elements of a multipole electrical connector.

   • The UK standard connector for domestic mains electricity has three pins.
10. •
    The victory condition of holding the opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time.
11. •
    Either a scenario in which moving a lesser piece to escape from attack would expose a more valuable piece to being taken instead, or one where moving a piece is impossible as it would place the king in check.
12. •
    The flagstick: the flag-bearing pole which marks the location of a hole
13. •
    [in the plural] (informal) A leg.

    • I'm not so good on my pins these days.
14. •
    A small nail with a head and a sharp point.
15. •
    The spot at the exact centre of the house (the target area)

    • The shot landed right on the pin.
16. •
    The spot at the exact centre of the target, originally a literal pin that fastened the target in place.

    • For kings are clouts that euery man shoots at, Our Crowne the pin that thousands seeke to cleaue. — 1587
17. •
    (informal) A pinball machine.

    • I spent most of my time in the arcade playing pins.
18. •
    The tenon of a dovetail joint.
19. •
    (slang) An injection of PEDs.
20. •
    A thing of small value; a trifle.

    • He […] did not care a pin for her. — 1712
21. •
    (UK) A size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.
22. •
    One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each person should drink.
23. •
    A cataract of the eye.
24. •
    (no longer used) Caligo.
25. •
    (no longer used) A mood, a state of being.

    • Hee sett Promethius, on a merrye pynn, / Whoe dranke soe devillishly, that there he gott / A terrible heartburninge, […] — 1631

verb9

1. •
   To fasten or attach (something) with a pin.
2. •
   To attach (an icon, application, message etc.) to another item so that it persists.
3. •
   To pin down (someone).

   • He pinned his opponent on the mat.
4. •
   To cause (a piece) to be in a pin.
5. •
   To move a piece onto a blot, preventing the piece from further movement.
6. •
   To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
7. •
   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.
8. •
   To cause an analog gauge to reach the stop pin at the high end of the range.

   • Now I need to pin those needles. — 1979
9. •
   (slang) To inject for performance enhancement.

noun2

1. •
   Acronym of personal identification number.
2. •
   Initialism of preferred IUPAC name.