pinch

v. i. 1. To act with pressing force; to compress; to squeeze; as, the shoe pinches. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Hunt.) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To spare; to be niggardly; to be covetous. Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

To pinch at, to find fault with; to take exception to. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A close compression, as with the ends of the fingers, or with an instrument; a nip. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. As much as may be taken between the finger and thumb; any very small quantity; as, a pinch of snuff. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Pian; pang. “Necessary's sharp pinch.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A lever having a projection at one end, acting as a fulcrum, -- used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, etc. Called also pinch bar. [ 1913 Webster ]

At a pinch,
On a pinch, in an emergency; as, he could on a pinch read a little Latin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Said to be from the name of the inventor; cf. It. prencisbecco. ] An alloy of copper and zinc, resembling gold; a yellow metal, composed of about three ounces of zinc to a pound of copper. It is much used as an imitation of gold in the manufacture of cheap jewelry. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made of pinchbeck; sham; cheap; spurious; unreal. “A pinchbeck throne.” J. A. Symonds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A clamp on a flexible pipe to regulate the flow of a fluid through the pipe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The European blue titmouse. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, pinches. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ From Pinch. ] An instrument having two handles and two grasping jaws working on a pivot; -- used for griping things to be held fast, drawing nails, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This spelling is preferable to pincers, both on account of its derivation from the English pinch, and because it represents the common pronunciation. [ 1913 Webster ]