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Webster 1913 Edition

Hinge

Hinge

,
Noun.
[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

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Hinged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Hinging
.]
1.
To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.
2.
To bend.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Hinge

,
Verb.
I.
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

Webster 1828 Edition

Hinge

HINGE

,
Noun.
hinj. [This word appears to be connected with hang,and with angle,the verb.]
1. The hook or joint on which a door or gate turns.
The gate self-opened wide
On golden hinges turning.
2.
That on which any thing depends or turns; a governing principle, rule or point. This argument was the hinge on which the question turned.
3.
A cardinal point; as east, west, north or south. [Little used.]
To be off the hinges, is to be in a state of disorder or irregularity.

HINGE

,
Verb.
T.
To furnish with hinges.
1.
To bend. [Little used.]

HINGE

,
Verb.
I.
To stand, depend or turn, as on a hinge. The question hinges on this single point.

Definition 2024

hinge

hinge

See also: hingê

English

A hinge 1
A hinge 1

Noun

hinge ‎(plural hinges)

  1. A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
    • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, volume 3, chapter 1
      The massy portals of the churches swung creaking on their hinges; and some lay dead on the pavement.
  2. A stamp hinge, a folded and gummed paper rectangle for affixing postage stamps in an album.
  3. A principle, or a point in time, on which subsequent reasonings or events depend.
    This argument was the hinge on which the question turned.
  4. (statistics) The median of the upper or lower half of a batch, sample, or probability distribution.
  5. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
    • Creech
      When the moon is in the hinge at East.
    • Milton
      Nor slept the winds / Within their stony caves, but rush'd abroad / From the four hinges of the world.

Synonyms

  • (device upon which a door hangs): har
  • (statistics): quartile

Meronyms

  • (device upon which a door hangs): pintel

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

hinge ‎(third-person singular simple present hinges, present participle hinging or hingeing, simple past and past participle hinged)

  1. (transitive) To attach by, or equip with a hinge.
  2. (intransitive) To depend on something.
    • 2015, Louise Taylor, Papiss Cissé and Jonny Evans spitting row mars Manchester United’s win over Newcastle (in The Guardian, 4 March 2015)
      Games can hinge on the sort of controversial decision made by Taylor in the 10th minute. After Rivière collected Gabriel Obertan’s pass and sashayed beyond Daley Blind he drew the United centre- half into a rash, clumsy challenge but, puzzlingly, Taylor detected no penalty.
  3. (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.
    The flake hinged at an inclusion in the core.
  4. (obsolete) To bend.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Verb

hinge

  1. (archaic) singular past subjunctive of hangen

German

Verb

hinge

  1. first- and third-person singular subjunctive past of hängen

Etymology

From Middle English henge, from Old English *henge ‎(“hinge”), compare Old English henge- in hengeclif ‎(“overhanging cliff”), Old English hengen ‎(“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”). Akin to Scots heenge ‎(“hinge”), Saterland Frisian Hänge ‎(“hinge”), Dutch heng ‎(“door handle”), Low German henge ‎(“a hook, hinge, handle”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe ‎(“a hook, hinge, handle”), Scots hingel ‎(“any attachment by which something is hung or fastened”), Dutch hengel ‎(“hook”), geheng ‎(“hinge”), hengsel ‎(“hinge”), German dialectal hängel ‎(“hook, joint”), German Henkel ‎(“handle, hook”), Old English hōn ‎(“to hang”), hangian ‎(“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hĭnj, IPA(key): /ˈhɪndʒ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪndʒ

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