"row of pins" meaning in English

See row of pins in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From the disposable rows of pins used in sewing. Head templates: {{en-noun|?}} row of pins
  1. (idiomatic, dated, chiefly in the negative) An insignificant thing, a whit. Tags: dated, idiomatic Synonyms: hill of beans
    Sense id: en-row_of_pins-en-noun-TWIDO8jB Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English negative polarity items

Download JSON data for row of pins meaning in English (1.5kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From the disposable rows of pins used in sewing.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "row of pins",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English negative polarity items",
          "parents": [
            "Negative polarity items",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopaedia […], volume 1, page 358",
          "text": "[…] they wouldn’t let us have even a row of pins without the money for ’em—no, not if we was to drop down dead for want of bread in their shops.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1963 October 14, John McFarland, Revenue Act of 1963: Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Eighty-Eighth Congress, Fifth Session, on H.R. 8363 […], page 608",
          "text": "As far as the admissions tax is concerned, it doesn’t amount to a row of pins anyway.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An insignificant thing, a whit."
      ],
      "id": "en-row_of_pins-en-noun-TWIDO8jB",
      "links": [
        [
          "insignificant",
          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "whit",
          "whit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, dated, chiefly in the negative) An insignificant thing, a whit."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in the negative"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hill of beans"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "row of pins"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From the disposable rows of pins used in sewing.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "row of pins",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English dated terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English negative polarity items",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopaedia […], volume 1, page 358",
          "text": "[…] they wouldn’t let us have even a row of pins without the money for ’em—no, not if we was to drop down dead for want of bread in their shops.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1963 October 14, John McFarland, Revenue Act of 1963: Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Eighty-Eighth Congress, Fifth Session, on H.R. 8363 […], page 608",
          "text": "As far as the admissions tax is concerned, it doesn’t amount to a row of pins anyway.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An insignificant thing, a whit."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "insignificant",
          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "whit",
          "whit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, dated, chiefly in the negative) An insignificant thing, a whit."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in the negative"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hill of beans"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "row of pins"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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