Hinge Definition

hĭnj

hinged, hinges, hinging

noun

hinges

A joint or device on which a door, gate, lid, etc. swings.

Webster's New World

A similar structure or part, such as one that enables the valves of a bivalve mollusk to open and close.

American Heritage

A natural joint, as of the bivalve shell of a clam or oyster.

Webster's New World

A thin, gummed piece of paper, folded for fastening a stamp in an album.

Webster's New World

Anything on which matters turn or depend; cardinal point or principle; pivot.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
flexible joint
flap
articulated joint
cross-garnet
strap
lifting butt
butt
knee
ball-and-socket
elbow
hook
link
pivot
articulation
juncture

verb

hinged, hinges, hinging

To equip with or attach by a hinge.

Webster's New World

To hang as on a hinge; be contingent; depend.

Hopes hinging on his success.

Webster's New World

To consider or make (something) dependent on something else; predicate.

American Heritage

To hinge is defined as to attach or join to something using a mechanism that allows for swinging or opening, or to depend on entirely or to turn on entirely.

When an ironing board is attached to a wall by a mechanism that allows it to fold up, this is an example of a time when the ironing board hinges to the door.

When a project depends upon receiving funding, this is an example of a time when the project hinges on the receipt of funding.

YourDictionary

Archaeology The breaking off of the distal end of a knapped stone flake whose presumed course across the face of the stone core was truncated prematurely, leaving not a feathered distal end but instead the scar of a nearly perpendicular break.

The flake hinged at an inclusion in the core.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Hinge

Noun

Singular:

hinge

Plural:

hinges

Origin of Hinge

Middle English henge, from Old English *henge, compare Old English henge- in hengeclif (“overhanging cliff”), hengen (“hanging”). Akin to Low German henge (“a hook, hinge, handle”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe (“a hook, hinge, handle”), Dutch hengel (“hook”), geheng (“hinge”), hengsel (“hinge”), German dialectal hängel (“hook, joint”), German Henkel (“handle, hook”), Old English hōn (“to hang”), hangian (“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.

From Wiktionary
Middle English henge konk- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition