Pinch

Definitions

1. The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
2. A close compression of anything with the fingers.
3. A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
4. An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
5. A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.
6. An organic herbal smoke additive.
7. A magnetic compression of an electrically conducting filament.
8. The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.
9. An arrest.
   slang

Equivalents

Examples

“I gave the leather of the sofa a pinch, gauging the texture.”

“Mix⟳ about four cups of white flour with a pinch of salt.”

“And wel his merits ſhew him to be made His Fortunes maiſter, and the king of men. That could perſwade at ſuch a ſodaine pinch, With reaſons of his valour and his life, A thouſand ſworne and ouer-matching foes:”

“It took nerve and muscle both to carry⟳ the body out and down the stairs to the lower hall, but he damn well had to get⟳ it out of his place⟳ and away from his door, and any of those four could have⟳ done it in a pinch, and it sure was a pinch.”

“It looked like⟳ an hourglass, but all those little glittering shapes tumbling through the pinch were seconds.”

CEFR level