pinch
verb/pɪntʃ/
/pɪntʃ/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they pinch | /pɪntʃ/ /pɪntʃ/ |
| he / she / it pinches | /ˈpɪntʃɪz/ /ˈpɪntʃɪz/ |
| past simple pinched | /pɪntʃt/ /pɪntʃt/ |
| past participle pinched | /pɪntʃt/ /pɪntʃt/ |
| -ing form pinching | /ˈpɪntʃɪŋ/ /ˈpɪntʃɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] pinch somebody/something/yourself to take a piece of somebody’s skin and press it together hard with your thumb and the finger next to it
- My sister's always pinching me and it really hurts.
- He pinched the baby's cheek playfully.
- (figurative) She had to pinch herself to make sure she was not dreaming.
- He pinched me sharply on the arm.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- gently
- lightly
- playfully
- …
- between
- on
- [transitive] pinch something (+ adv./prep.) to hold something tightly between the thumb and finger or between two things that are pressed together
- Pinch the nostrils together between your thumb and finger to stop the bleeding.
- a pinched nerve in the neck
Extra Examples- Apply pressure to the nose by pinching the nostrils firmly together.
- He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- gently
- lightly
- playfully
- …
- between
- on
- [intransitive, transitive] to place the thumb and a finger of one hand on the screen of an electronic device such as a mobile phone or small computer and move them together or apart, to make the image on the screen appear smaller or larger
- You can pinch and zoom in.
- [intransitive, transitive] pinch (somebody/something) if something such as a shoe pinches part of your body, it hurts you because it is too tight
- These new shoes pinch.
- My shoes were pinching badly.
- [transitive] pinch something (from somebody/something) (British English, informal) to steal something, especially something small and not very valuable synonym nick
- Kids have been pinching our apples again.
- Who's pinched my pen?
- [transitive] pinch somebody/something to cost a person or an organization a lot of money or more than they can spend
- Higher interest rates are already pinching the housing industry.
- [transitive] pinch somebody (British English, old-fashioned, informal) to arrest somebody
- I was pinched for dangerous driving.
press
of a shoe
steal
cost too much
arrest
Word OriginMiddle English (as a verb): from an Old Northern French variant of Old French pincier ‘to pinch’.
Idioms
See pinch in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarypinch pennies
- (informal) to try to spend as little money as possible
Check pronunciation:
pinch