HINGE
hinge, flexible joint
(noun) a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other
hinge
(noun) a circumstance upon which subsequent events depend; “his absence is the hinge of our plan”
hinge
(verb) attach with a hinge
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
hinge (plural hinges)
A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
A naturally occurring joint resembling such hardware in form or action, as in the shell of a bivalve.
A stamp hinge, a folded and gummed paper rectangle for affixing postage stamps in an album.
A principle, or a point in time, on which subsequent reasonings or events depend.
(statistics) The median of the upper or lower half of a batch, sample, or probability distribution.
One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
Synonyms
• (device upon which a door hangs): har
• (statistics): quartile
Meronyms
• (device upon which a door hangs): pintel
Verb
hinge (third-person singular simple present hinges, present participle hingeing or hinging, simple past and past participle hinged)
(transitive) To attach by, or equip with a hinge.
(intransitive, with on or upon) To depend on something.
(transitive, archaeology) The breaking off of the distal end of a knapped stone flake whose presumed course across the face of the stone core was truncated prematurely, leaving not a feathered distal end but instead the scar of a nearly perpendicular break.
(obsolete) To bend.
Anagrams
• ehing, neigh
Source: Wiktionary
Hinge, n. Etym: [OE. henge, heeng; akin to D. heng, LG. henge, Prov.
E. hingle a small hinge; connected with hang, v., and Icel. hengja to
hang. See Hang.]
1. The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door, gate, lid,
etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a strip of leather, which
serves as a joint to turn on.
The gate self-opened wide, On golden hinges turning. Milton.
2. That on which anything turns or depends; a governing principle; a
cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was the hinge on which the
question turned.
3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [R.]
When the moon is in the hinge at East. Creech.
Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad. Milton.
Hinge joint. (a) (Anat.) See Ginglymus. (b) (Mech.) Any joint
resembling a hinge, by which two pieces are connected so as to permit
relative turning in one plane.
– To be off the hinges, to be in a state of disorder or
irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. Tillotson.
Hinge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hinged; p. pr. & vb. n. Hinging.]
1. To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.
2. To bend. [Obs.] Shak.
Hinge, v. i.
Definition: To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend
chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; --
usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point. I.
Taylor
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition