pinch

pinch
    n 1: a painful or straitened circumstance; "the pinch of the
         recession"
    2: an injury resulting from getting some body part squeezed
    3: a slight but appreciable amount; "this dish could use a touch
       of garlic" [syn: {touch}, {hint}, {tinge}, {mite}, {pinch},
       {jot}, {speck}, {soupcon}]
    4: a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that
       requires immediate action; "he never knew what to do in an
       emergency" [syn: {emergency}, {exigency}, {pinch}]
    5: a small sharp bite or snip [syn: {nip}, {pinch}]
    6: a squeeze with the fingers [syn: {pinch}, {tweak}]
    7: the act of apprehending (especially apprehending a criminal);
       "the policeman on the beat got credit for the collar" [syn:
       {apprehension}, {arrest}, {catch}, {collar}, {pinch}, {taking
       into custody}]
    v 1: squeeze tightly between the fingers; "He pinched her
         behind"; "She squeezed the bottle" [syn: {pinch},
         {squeeze}, {twinge}, {tweet}, {nip}, {twitch}]
    2: make ridges into by pinching together [syn: {crimp}, {pinch}]
    3: make off with belongings of others [syn: {pilfer}, {cabbage},
       {purloin}, {pinch}, {abstract}, {snarf}, {swipe}, {hook},
       {sneak}, {filch}, {nobble}, {lift}]
    4: cut the top off; "top trees and bushes" [syn: {top}, {pinch}]
    5: irritate as if by a nip, pinch, or tear; "smooth surfaces can
       vellicate the teeth"; "the pain is as if sharp points pinch
       your back" [syn: {pinch}, {vellicate}]
    

Pinch \Pinch\, v. i.
   1. To act with pressing force; to compress; to squeeze; as,
      the shoe pinches.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Hunt.) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To spare; to be niggardly; to be covetous. --Gower.
      [1913 Webster]

            The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare.
                                                  --Franklin.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To pinch at}, to find fault with; to take exception to.
      [Obs.] --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]
    

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.
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            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.]
    

Pinch \Pinch\, n.
   1. A close compression, as with the ends of the fingers, or
      with an instrument; a nip.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. As much as may be taken between the finger and thumb; any
      very small quantity; as, a pinch of snuff.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Pian; pang. "Necessary's sharp pinch." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A lever having a projection at one end, acting as a
      fulcrum, -- used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, etc. Called
      also {pinch bar}.
      [1913 Webster]

   {At a pinch}, {On a pinch}, in an emergency; as, he could on
      a pinch read a little Latin.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Pinch, WV (CDP, FIPS 63772)
  Location: 38.40736 N, 81.47983 W
  Population (1990): 2695 (1065 housing units)
  Area: 9.1 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)
    

Pinch, WV -- U.S. Census Designated Place in West Virginia
   Population (2000):    2811
   Housing Units (2000): 1194
   Land area (2000):     3.507567 sq. miles (9.084557 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.037141 sq. miles (0.096194 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    3.544708 sq. miles (9.180751 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            63772
   Located within:       West Virginia (WV), FIPS 54
   Location:             38.406348 N, 81.484682 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):    
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Pinch, WV
    Pinch
    

396 Moby Thesaurus words for "pinch":
      abstract, ace, acute pain, afflict, agonize, ail, alternate,
      alternative, and, annex, apprehend, apprehension, approach,
      appropriate, arrest, arrestation, arrestment, atom, backup, bag,
      bare cupboard, bare subsistence, beat, beat to windward,
      beggarliness, beggary, begrudge, bind, bit, bite, boost,
      boring pain, borrow, breakers ahead, burglary, burn, bust, caper,
      capture, cardhouse, catch, cause for alarm, center, centralize,
      chafe, charley horse, clamp, clamping, clamping down, climacteric,
      close, close in, close up, close with, close-haul, clutch, collar,
      come together, complication, compress, compression, compulsion,
      concenter, concentralize, concentrate, confine, constraint,
      contingency, converge, convergence of events, convulse, cop,
      counterfeit, cramp, cramps, crib, crick, crisis, critical juncture,
      critical point, crossroads, crucial period, crucify, crunch, crush,
      crux, cubby, cubbyhole, cut, dab, danger, dangerous ground,
      darting pain, defraud, deprivation, destitution, difficulty,
      dilemma, distress, doghouse, dole, dot, dram, dribble, driblet,
      drive, dummy, dwarf, economize, embarrassing position,
      embarrassment, embezzle, emergency, empty purse, endangerment,
      ensphere, equivalent, ersatz, exact, excruciate, exigency, extort,
      extremity, fake, fall in with, famish, farthing, fester, filch,
      fine how-do-you-do, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, fret,
      fulgurant pain, funnel, gall, gaping chasm, gathering clouds,
      girdle pain, give pain, gnaw, gnawing, gobbet, gouge, grab, grain,
      granule, grasp, grate, grind, grinding poverty, grip, gripe,
      griping, groat, grudge, hair, hand-to-mouth existence, handful,
      harrow, hazard, heist, hell to pay, high pressure, hinge, hitch,
      hobble, hole, homelessness, hook, hot water, house of cards,
      how-do-you-do, hurt, imbroglio, imitation, imperativeness,
      imperilment, impoverishment, impulse, impulsion, indigence,
      inflame, inflict pain, intersect, iota, irritate, jam, jeopardy,
      job, joker, jot, jumping pain, kill by inches, kink, knock off,
      lacerate, lack, lancinating pain, lift, little, little bit,
      live upon nothing, luff, luff up, make a pinch, make off with,
      makeshift, martyr, martyrize, meet, menace, mendicancy, mess,
      minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, mix, mock, modicum, molecule,
      moneylessness, morass, mote, nab, narrow the gap, necessitousness,
      necessity, need, neediness, netting, nick, nip, nutshell, ounce,
      pain, palm, pang, parlous straits, paroxysm, particle, pass,
      pauperism, pauperization, pebble, penury, peril, phony, pickle,
      pickup, pierce, pigeonhole, pilfer, pinch pennies, pittance,
      playhouse, plight, ply, poach, point, predicament, press, pressure,
      pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, prick, privation,
      prolong the agony, provisional, proxy, pull in, purloin, push,
      put to torture, quagmire, quicksand, rack, rankle, rash impulse,
      rasp, reserve, rip-off, risk, rob, robbery, rocks ahead, rub,
      run away with, run in, run together, rustle, sail fine, save,
      scamp, scant, scrape, screw, scrimp, scrounge, scruple, secondary,
      seizure, shake, sharp pain, shoot, shooting, shooting pain,
      shoplift, skimp, slough, smidgen, smidgin, smitch, snag, snare,
      snatch, snitch, soupcon, spare, spasm, speck, spoonful, spot,
      squeeze, squeezing, stab, stabbing pain, starve, steal, stew,
      sticky wicket, sting, stint, stitch, stopgap, storm clouds, strait,
      straits, stress, substitute, swamp, swindle, swipe, tad, take,
      take into custody, taper, taste, temporary, tension, tentative,
      theft, thieve, thimbleful, thin ice, threat, thrill, throes,
      tight spot, tight squeeze, tighten, tightening, tightrope,
      tiny bit, tittle, tormen, torment, torture, touch, touch the wind,
      tricky spot, trifling amount, trivia, turn, turning, turning point,
      tweak, twinge, twist, twitch, unholy mess, unite, urge, urgency,
      utility, vicarious, wad up, walk off with, want, whit, wound,
      wrench, wring