| / English Dictionary |
PINCHED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold
Example:
kept life in his wasted frame only by grim concentration
Synonyms:
cadaverous; emaciated; gaunt; haggard; pinched; skeletal; wasted
Classified under:
Similar:
lean; thin (lacking excess flesh)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Sounding as if the nose were pinched
Example:
a whining nasal voice
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
high; high-pitched (used of sounds and voices; high in pitch or frequency)
Sense 3
Meaning:
As if squeezed uncomfortably tight
Example:
her pinched toes in her pointed shoes were killing her
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
constricted (drawn together or squeezed physically or by extension psychologically)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Not having enough money to pay for necessities
Synonyms:
hard up; impecunious; in straitened circumstances; penniless; penurious; pinched
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
poor (having little money or few possessions)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb pinch
Context examples:
Then the peasant once more pinched the raven’s head till he croaked loudly.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
And he pinched me the third time with the same air of cleverness.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I don't remember that any individual object had a bare, pinched, spare look; but I do remember that the whole place had.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I must have pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress was a drop of blood.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I guessed his meaning, and my good fortune gave me so much presence of mind, that I resolved not to struggle in the least as he held me in the air above sixty feet from the ground, although he grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should slip through his fingers.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
At last the peasant pinched the raven once more till he croaked, and said: Fourthly, he says that there are some cakes under the bed.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
And he pinched me again in the most confidential manner.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I was looking back to the name of Doctor Mell, pleased to have discovered, in these happier circumstances, Mr. Mell, formerly poor pinched usher to my Middlesex magistrate, when Mr. Peggotty pointing to another part of the paper, my eyes rested on my own name, and I read thus: TO DAVID COPPERFIELD, ESQUIRE
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Then the peasant pinched the raven’s head, so that he croaked and made a noise like krr, krr.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
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