pinch
verbVerb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they pinch | |
| he / she / it pinches | |
| past simple pinched | |
| past participle pinched | |
| -ing form pinching |
- [transitive] pinch somebody/something/yourself
to take a piece of somebody’s skin and press it together hard with your thumb and the finger next to it 擰；捏；掐 My sister's always pinching me and it really hurts. 我姐姐老擰我，真的很痛。 He pinched the baby's cheek playfully. 他捏着寶寶的臉頰逗着玩。 - (figurative)
She had to pinch herself to make sure she was not dreaming. 她不得不掐一下自己，弄清楚自己不是在做夢。 He pinched me sharply on the arm. 他用力掐我的胳膊。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- gently
- lightly
- playfully
- …
- between
- on
- [transitive] pinch something (+ adv./prep.)
to hold something tightly between the thumb and finger or between two things that are pressed together 捏住；夾緊 Pinch the nostrils together between your thumb and finger to stop the bleeding. 用手指捏住鼻孔止血。 a pinched nerve in the neck 脖子上一條被擠壓的神經
Extra ExamplesApply pressure to the nose by pinching the nostrils firmly together. 緊捏鼻孔，使鼻子受壓。 He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger. 他用拇指和食指捏住了葉子。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- gently
- lightly
- playfully
- …
- between
- on
- [intransitive, transitive]
to place the thumb and a finger of one hand on the screen of an electronic device such as a mobile phone or small computer and move them together or apart, to make the image on the screen appear smaller or larger （在手機等電子裝置上）兩指張合以放大（或縮小）圖像 You can pinch and zoom in. 可以捏放大。
- [intransitive, transitive] pinch (somebody/something)
if something such as a shoe pinches part of your body, it hurts you because it is too tight 夾（腳）；夾痛 - [transitive] pinch something (from somebody/something) (British English, informal)
to steal something, especially something small and not very valuable 偷摸；行竊 - [transitive] pinch somebody/something
to cost a person or an organization a lot of money or more than they can spend 使花費過多；使入不敷出 - [transitive] pinch somebody (British English, old-fashioned, informal)
to arrest somebody 逮捕
press
of a shoe鞋
steal偷竊
cost too much昂貴
arrest拘捕
Word OriginMiddle English (as a verb): from an Old Northern French variant of Old French pincier ‘to pinch’.
Idioms
pinch pennies
- (informal)
to try to spend as little money as possible 一毛不拔；吝啬