▪ I. hinge, n.
(hɪndʒ)
Forms: 4 heng, heeng, 4–8 hing, 5–6 henge, hyng, 6 ynge, 6–7 hindge, 7 hendge, 6– hinge.
[ME. heng, heeng:—OE. type *hęncg, a deriv. of hang v.: cf. early mod.Du. henghe, henghene, ‘hinge, handle (of a pot), hook’ (Kilian), MLG. henge, LG. henge, heng, hinge of a door or the like. The palatalization of the g is not distinctly evidenced before 1590: but it appears to be now current in all dialects.]
I. 1. a. The movable joint or mechanism by which a gate or door is hung upon the side-post, so as to be opened or shut by being turned upon it.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2181 So harde he bot..þat þe henges boþe barste, & þe stapel þar-with out sprong. 1382 Wyclif Prov. xxvi. 14 As a dore is turned in his heeng; so a sloȝ man in his litle bed. 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 323 To the iren mongyr for neyles, hokes, and henges, iiij.s. viij.d. 1494–5 in Willis & Clark Cambridge II. 15 Gilbarto Smyth pro pare de hyngis et hukys xviijd. 1573–80 Baret Alv. H 464 The Hinge, or hingell of a gate: the hooke whereon a dore hangeth. 1592 Greene Art Conny Catch. iii. 12 He getteth the doore off the hindges. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle etc. (1871) 120 Even as the hinges doe the dore vpholde. 1634 in Harper's Mag. (1884) Dec. 12/2 To flinge up alle doores out of hendges. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. iii. 229 On brazen hinges turn'd the silver doors. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xli, The door upon its hinges groans. |
b. The similar mechanism to provide for the turning or moving in a quarter or half revolution of a lid, valve, etc., or of two movable parts upon each other.
| 1562 Child Marriages 131 She had lost the key of a chest, & desired hym to pull out the nayles of the hindges. a 1602 W. Perkins Cases Consc. (1619) 144 The frame of a great amphitheater, the two parts whereof were supported onely by two hinges. 1715 Lady M. W. Montagu Bassette-Table 43 This snuff-box—on the hinge see brilliants shine. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 266 The hinge of the valve [of a pump]. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. iii. 45 Guards for the face..attached to the cap on each side by hinges to give free movement. |
c. Of bellows: see
quot.| 1852 Seidel Organ 37 The other ends of the bellows (where they open widest), called the hinges, are provided with double or triple leathering. |
d. In Philately: see
quot. 1883.
| 1883 Stamp-Collecting & Exchange 8/2 There is only one really satisfactory process for mounting postage labels, viz., the now almost universal hinge-system. This consists of a piece of thin paper a little smaller than the stamp itself, and affixed to the album with a drop of gum, or, if the hinge be already prepared for adhesion,..no inconvenience or trouble will be experienced. 1892 Stamp Collector Apr. 33 In the earlier days of stamp collecting, before such things as gummed hinges were offered to the collecting public. 1967 Exchange & Mart 20 July 19/4 (Advt.), Stamps stay put without stamp hinges, in our brand new plastic stamp album. 1971 D. Potter Brit. Eliz. Stamps xv. 163 At the turn of the century, hinges were monstrous things, designed for their sticking power. |
2. A natural movable joint:
spec. a. that of a bivalve shell;
b. the
cardo or basal part of the maxilla in insects.
| 1702 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1566 This Shell is sometimes near 2 inches long, the hing of which is 1 and 1/4. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 12 The Bivalve, consisting of two pieces, united by a hinge, like an oyster. 1851 Richardson Geol. viii. 242 The hinge is the point of the dorsal margin at which bivalve shells are united. 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids iii. 99 So flexible..is the hinge that the weight of..a fly..depresses the distal portion. |
3. transf. The axis of the earth; the two poles about which the earth revolves, and, by extension, the four cardinal points. (See
cardinal a. 4.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22754 He to brin sal se..bath land and see and all thinges, þat ani werlds hald wit hinges. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxix. iv, The heav'n, the earth..The unseene hinge of North and South sustaineth. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus v. vi, Shake off the loosned Glob from her long Hing. 1629 Milton Nativity 122 The Creator..the well-balanced World on hinges hung. 1671 ― P.R. iv. 413 The winds..rushed abroad From the four hinges of the world. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 57 The prime Hinge whereon the whole Frame of Nature moves. 1697 Creech Manilius ii. xxxiii. 80 Observe the four fixt Hinges of the Sky. |
4. fig. That on which something is conceived to hang or be supported and to turn; a pivot,
prop. a. generally.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 365 That the probation beare no Hindge, nor Loope, To hange a doubt on. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. i. (1651) 92 Perturbations..are..causes of Melancholy, turning it out of the hinges of his health. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. vi, We usually call reward and punishment the two hinges upon which all government turns. 1781 Cowper Truth 207 Say, on what hinge does his obedience move? 1884 Gladstone in Standard 29 Feb. 2/5 Because the borough franchise as it exists in England..is the hinge of the whole Bill. |
b. The cardinal point of a discussion or controversy (
cf. cardinal a. 1); the central principle of a thesis.
| 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. iv. §53. 221 The hinge whereon your whole discourse turnes. 1687 R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 8 The Roman Catholique-infallibility, and the Dissenters liberty are the Two Hinges of the Controversie here in Debate. 1769 Junius Lett. xvi. 71 This is not the hinge on which the debate turns. 1853 Marsden Early Purit. 224 The nature of the sacraments..was the hinge of the whole controversy with Rome. |
c. A turning-point, critical point, crisis.
| 1727 in Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 303 So it stands till tomorrow; when, may the Lord direct! for this is the very hinge of the present cause. 1775 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 50 The hinge between war and peace is, indeed, a dangerous juncture to ministers. 1886 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxix. 4 Here is the hinge of the condition; this makes the turning point of Israel's distress. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid i. 672, I tremble when Juno welcomes the guest; Ne'er, at the hinge of an hour so great, will she slumber or rest. |
5. Phrase.
off the hinges,
† out of (the) hinges: unhinged; out of order; in (or into) disorder, physical or moral.
Cf. out of harre,
harre 3.
| 1611 Cotgr., Hallebrené, sad, crest-fallen, heauie-looking, drooping; off the hindges, cleane out of heart. 1630 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. i. xiv. §15 (1670) 58 The wildest and best Poets do love sometimes to play the fool, and to leap out of the hinges. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) iii. 86 All businesses here are off the hinges. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xix. (1737) 80 We are..out of Tune, and off the Hinges. 1828 Craven Dial., Hinges, ‘To be off t' hinges.’ To be out of health. |
II. 6. dial. The ‘pluck’ (heart, liver, and lungs) of a beast. Also
henge1,
hange.
| 1469 [see henge1]. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Hinge, the liver and pluck of a sheep for dog's meat. West. 1825 Britton Beauties Wiltsh. III. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Hinge, the heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep or pig. 1890 Gloucestersh. Gloss., Hinge, or Inge. 1893 Wiltsh. Gloss., Hinge, Henge. |
III. 7. attrib. and
Comb., as
hinge-band,
hinge-maker,
hinge-question;
hinge-like adj.;
hinge-ways adv.;
hinge-area (
Conch.): see
quot. 1872;
hinge-bound a., having the movement of the hinge obstructed;
hinge-joint (
Anat.), a joint whose movement can only be in one plane (
e.g. that of the elbow or knee); a
ginglymus;
double hinge-joint (see
quot. 1886);
hinge-knife, a clasp knife, opening and shutting with a hinge or joint;
hinge-ligament (see
quot. 1909);
hinge-line (
Conch.): see
quot. 1888;
hinge-pin, a pin or pintle which fastens together the parts of a hinge;
hinge-tooth (
Conch.), one of the teeth or projections on one valve of a bivalve mollusc which fit into corresponding indentations in the other valve.
| 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 200 The beaks of the dorsal and ventral valves are separated from one another by a narrower or wider space, which is termed the ‘*hinge-area’. |
| 1842 Mech. Mag. XXXVI. 303 They [sluice doors] were frequently *hinge-bound and clogged up. |
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. viii. (1830) 64 The head rests immediately upon the uppermost part of the vertebræ, and is united to it by a *hinge-joint; upon which joint the head plays freely forward and backward. 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., Hinge-joint, double, one in which the articulating surfaces of each bone are concave in one direction and convex in the direction at right angles, as in the carpo-metacarpal joint of the thumb. |
| 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 330 *Hinge-knives are apt to close on your own fingers. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. 589/3 *Hinge-ligament, in bivalve mollusks, a tough, uncalcified, elastic membrane which connects the two valves. 1945 E. Step Shell Life (rev. ed.) 56 The hinge-ligament exerts a pulling action which tends to separate the lower edges. |
| a 1832 Bentham Deontology (1834) I. 141 But do they turn on these four *hinge-like virtues? |
| 1849 Murchison Siluria ix. 192 The species have generally a roundish outline, with one valve convex..and the *hinge-line straight. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 124 Each valve [of the shell] presents a short straight margin, the hinge-line, along which it is united to its fellow. |
| 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6388/7 Oliver Wolfe,..*Hinge-maker. |
| 1881 Greener Gun 215 The distance from the face of the breach-action to the *hinge-pin has been considerably shortened. |
| 1858 Princeton Rev. Jan. 139 These are *hinge-questions upon which Mr. Brownson observes a prudent retinency. |
| 1851–6 Woodward Mollusca 57 The genera of bivalves have been characterised by the number and position of their *hinge-teeth. |
▪ II. hinge, v. [f. hinge n.] 1. trans. To bend (anything) as a hinge.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 211 Be thou a Flatterer now..hindge thy knee. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 23 Nov., The wealthiest..city in America bows the neck, and hinges the knee, and crooks to the control of this man. |
2. To attach or hang with or as with a hinge.
| 1758–65 Goldsm. Ess., Eng. Clergy Wks. (Globe) 293/2 The vulgar..whose behaviour..is totally hinged upon their hopes and fears. 1804 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. II. 365 The laws, which hinge gaming transactions on a mere principle of honor. 1879 M. Pattison Milton vi. 70 Hooker's elaborate sentence..is composed of parts so hinged. |
3. intr. To hang and turn
on, as a door on its post.
| 1719 Spotswood in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 206 The law you hinge on. 1795 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 317 Their adversaries endeavoured to give this colour to the contest, and to make it hinge on this principle. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. iii. 75 The point on which the decision must finally hinge. 1886 Bookseller Jan. 4/1 The destinies of the Empire are found to hinge on some Asiatic question. |
Hence
hinging vbl. n. (also attrib.).
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 591 Some information on the subject of hinging in general. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. i. vii. §27 Peculiar and hinging points on which the rest are based. |