unˈpinned, ppl. a.
[un-1 8.]
a. Not fastened with a pin or pins.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 293 He berth evere his mowth unpinned, So that his lippes ben unloke. 1568 Depositions xvi, 11 May (MS. Cant. Cath. Lib.), The said wif with her peticote vnpynned. 1655 tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion vi. 18 Her waiting Gentlewoman had..her Gorget unpinned. 1776 F. Burney Diary 6 Apr. (1889) II. 139 Two of her curls came quite unpinned, and fell lank, on one of her shoulders. 1821 M. Edgeworth Let. 27 Nov. (1971) 281 An end of her frill was unpinned. |
b. Of a grenade: having had the pin (pin n.1 1 n) removed.
| 1974 P. Dickinson Poison Oracle vi. 159 The Jap pilot who brought the plane down..on to an inadequate runway with an assassin sitting beside him holding an unpinned grenade. |