n.
- A jointed or flexible device that allows the turning or pivoting of a part, such as a door or lid, on a stationary frame.
- A similar structure or part, such as one that enables the valves of a bivalve mollusk to open and close.
- A small folded paper rectangle gummed on one side, used especially to fasten stamps in an album.
- A point or circumstance on which subsequent events depend.
v., hinged, hing·ing, hing·es. v.tr.
- To attach by or equip with or as if with hinges or a hinge.
- To consider or make (something) dependent on something else; predicate: "convenient and misleading fictions for hinging an argument" (Stephen Jay Gould).
To be contingent on a single factor; depend: This plan hinges on her approval.
[Middle English henge.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
