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1. Press tightly between the fingers
   "He pinched her behind";
   - squeeze, twinge, tweet, nip, twitch
    
2. Make ridges into by pinching together
   - crimp
    
3. [Brit, informal] Take by theft
   - hook [informal], snitch [informal], thieve, cop [informal], knock off [informal], glom [N. Amer, informal], pilfer, cabbage [informal], purloin, abstract, snarf [N. Amer, informal], swipe [informal], sneak [informal], filch [informal], nobble [Brit, informal], lift, whip [Brit, informal], nick [Brit, informal], snatch [informal], blag [Brit, informal]
    
4. Cut the top off
   - top
    
5. Irritate as if by a nip, pinch, or tear
   "the pain is as if sharp points pinch your back";
   - vellicate
    
6. [Brit, informal] Take into custody
   "the police pinched the suspected criminals";
   - collar [informal], nail [informal], apprehend, arrest, pick up, nab [informal], cop [informal], nick [Brit, informal]
    
7. Be frugal or miserly
   "Don't pinch on health insurance"
    
8. Feel the effect of straitened circumstance (e.g. lack of money)
   "Staffing and budget levels were pinched by the recession"

1. A painful or straitened circumstance
   "the pinch of the recession"
    
2. An injury resulting from getting some body part squeezed
    
3. A slight but appreciable amount
   "this dish could use a pinch of garlic";
   - touch, hint, tinge, mite, jot, speck, soupçon
    
4. A sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action
   - emergency, exigency, exigence
    
5. A small sharp bite or snip
   - nip
    
6. A squeeze with the fingers
   - tweak
    
7. The act of apprehending (especially apprehending a criminal)
   - apprehension, arrest, catch, collar [informal], taking into custody

Derived forms: pinches, pinching, pinched

Type of: bite, capture, chomp, clip, clipping, clutch, crisis, crop, cut back, difficultness, difficulty, dress, fix [informal], fold, fold up, gaining control, grip, harm, hole [informal], hurt, injury, irritate, jam [informal], kettle of fish [informal], lop, mess [informal], muddle [informal], pickle [informal], prehend [archaic], prune, rip [N. Amer, informal], rip off [informal], seize, seizure, small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity, snip, squeeze, squeezing, steal, trauma, trim, turn up

Encyclopedia: Pinch, WV