Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Pivot
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 watch3.
Hence, figuratively: A turning point or condition; that on which important results depend;
as, the
. pivot
of an enterprise4.
(Mil.)
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
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pivoted
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pivoting
.] To place on a pivot.
Clarke.
Webster 1828 Edition
Pivot
PIV'OT
,Noun.
Definition 2024
pivot
pivot
See also: pívot
English
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.
- Something or someone having a paramount significance in a certain situation.
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace:
- “The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached ; but, like many a fond mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas. […]”
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- Act of turning on one foot.
- 2012, Banking reform: Sticking together, The Economist, 18th August issue
- Sandy Weill was the man who stitched Citigroup together in the 1990s and in the process helped bury the Glass-Steagall act, a Depression-era law separating retail and investment banking. Last month he performed a perfect pivot: he now wants regulators to undo his previous work.
- 2012, Banking reform: Sticking together, The Economist, 18th August issue
- (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.
- (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.
Derived terms
- pivot bridge
- pivot gun
- pivot tooth
See also
Translations
pivot is that on which something turns
something having a paramount significance
act of turning on one foot
Verb
pivot (third-person singular simple present pivots, present participle pivoting, simple past and past participle pivoted)
- (intransitive) To turn on an exact spot.
Translations
to turn on an exact spot
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French
Etymology
From Old French, of unknown origin.
Pronunciation
Noun
pivot m (plural pivots)
- pivot
- fulcrum
- lynchpin
- (basketball) center
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Pivot (basket-ball) on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia fr
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