pinch
/pɪnt͡ʃ/ verb B2- To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt. · The children were scolded for pinching each other.· This shoe pinches my foot.
- To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
- To squeeze between two objects.
- Of clothing, to be uncomfortably tight in specific spots.
- To steal, usually something inconsequential. · Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
- To arrest or capture.
- To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
- To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
He/she/it pinches · Past pinched · Past participle pinched · -ing form pinching
Verb forms
- Base form
- pinch
- He/she/it
- pinches
- Past
- pinched
- Past participle
- pinched
- -ing form
- pinching
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
If he was like you say, maybe the cops pinched him before I got there.”
I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects.
That’s the pinch.
Do you know, my arm must be black and blue from the elbow up, for I’ve pinched myself so many times today.
Other matches
Learn pinch in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.