PIVOT

pivot

(noun) the act of turning on (or as if on) a pivot; “the golfer went to the driving range to practice his pivot”

pivot, pin

(noun) axis consisting of a short shaft that supports something that turns

pivot, pivot man

(noun) the person in a rank around whom the others wheel and maneuver

pivot, swivel

(verb) turn on a pivot

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

pivot (plural pivots)

A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle.

(figuratively, by extension) Something or someone having a paramount significance in a certain situation.

Act of turning on one foot.

(military) The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place while the company or line moves around him in wheeling.

(roller derby) A player with responsibility for co-ordinating their team in a particular jam.

(computing) An element of a set to be sorted that is chosen as a midpoint, so as to divide the other elements into two groups to be dealt with recursively.

(computing) A pivot table.

(GUI) Any of a row of captioned elements used to navigate to subpages, rather like tabs.

(mathematics) An element of a matrix that is used as a focus for row operations, such as dividing the row by the pivot, or adding multiples of the row to other rows making all other values in the pivot column 0.

(Canadian football) A quarterback.

(US, politics) A shift during a general election in a political candidate's messaging to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.

Verb

pivot (third-person singular simple present pivots, present participle pivoting, simple past and past participle pivoted)

(intransitive) To turn on an exact spot.

To make a sudden or swift change in strategy, policy, etc.

(business slang) To change the direction of a business, usually in response to changes in the market.

(US, politics) To shift a political candidate's messaging during a general election to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.

Source: Wiktionary


Piv"ot, n. Etym: [F.; prob. akin to It. piva pipe, F. pipe. See Pipe.]

1. A fixed pin or short axis, on the end of which a wheel or other body turns.

2. The end of a shaft or arbor which rests and turns in a support; as, the pivot of an arbor in a watch.

3. Hence, figuratively: A turning point or condition; that on which important results depend; as, the pivot of an enterprise.

4. (Mil.)

Definition: The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place whike the company or line moves around him in wheeling; -- called also pivot man. Pivot bridge, a form of drawbridge in which one span, called the pivot span, turns about a central vertical axis.

– Pivot gun, a gun mounted on a pivot or revolving carriage, so as to turn in any direction.

– Pivot tooth (Dentistry), an artificial crown attached to the root of a natural tooth by a pin or peg.

Piv"ot, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pivoted; p. pr. & vb. n. Pivoting.]

Definition: To place on a pivot. Clarke.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 March 2024

HUDDLED

(adjective) crowded or massed together; “give me...your huddled masses”; “the huddled sheep turned their backs against the wind”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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