Hinge word meaning and definition

[noun] a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other
[noun] a circumstance upon which subsequent events depend; "his absence is the hinge of our plan"
[verb] attach with a hinge

\Hinge\, n. [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\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Hinged}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Hinging}.] 1. To attach by, or furnish with, hinges. 2. To bend. [Obs.] --Shak.
\Hinge\, v. 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

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