1. Very thin especially from disease, hunger or cold
   "small pinched faces";
   - cadaverous, emaciated, gaunt, haggard, skeletal, wasted
    
2. Not having enough money to pay for necessities
   "The pinched gentlemen asked for a loan";
   - hard up, impecunious, in straitened circumstances, penniless, penurious, badly-off
    
3. As if squeezed uncomfortably tight
   "her pinched toes in her pointed shoes were killing her"
    
4. Sounding as if the nose were pinched
   "a whining pinched voice";
   - adenoidal, nasal

1. Press tightly between the fingers
   "He pinched her behind";
   - squeeze, nip, twitch
    
2. Make ridges into by pinching together
   "He pinched the clay to create texture";
   - crimp
    
3. [Brit, informal] Take by theft
   "He was going to pinch the phone someone had left behind";
   - hook [informal], snitch [informal], thieve, cop [informal], knock off [informal], glom [N. Amer, informal], boost [N. Amer, informal], pilfer, cabbage [archaic, informal], purloin [informal], abstract [informal], snarf [N. Amer, informal], swipe [informal], sneak [informal], filch [informal], nobble [Brit, informal], lift [informal], nick [Brit, informal], snatch [informal], whip [Brit, informal], blag [Brit, informal]
    
4. [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]
    
5. Irritate as if by a nip, pinch, or tear
   "the pain is as if sharp points pinch your back";
   - vellicate
    
6. Cut the top off
   "The gardener pinched the growing tips to encourage bushier growth";
   - top
    
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"

See also: constricted, high, high-pitched, lean, meager [N. Amer], meagre [Brit, Cdn], poor, thin

Type of: clip, clutch, crop, cut back, dress, fold, fold up, grip, irritate, lop, prehend [archaic], prune, rip [N. Amer, informal], rip off [informal], seize, snip, steal, take hold, take hold of, trim, turn up

Encyclopedia: Pinched