Hinge | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Hinge, n.

noun

(hinj), n. [Prov. Eng. hingin, O. D. hinghe, hinghene, henghe, henghene, ghelenge, heughsel, hanghsel, hanghe, O. H. Ger. ango, M. H. Ger. ange, N. H. Ger. angel, Prov. Eng. hingle, a small hinge; connected with hang, v., Prov. Eng. hing, because the door hangs upon it.]

Sense 1. The hook or joint on which a door, gate, or lid, &c., turns.

The gate self-opened wide, On golden hinges turning. Milton.

Sense 2. That on which any thing depends or turns; a governing principle, rule, or point; as, this argument was the hinge on which the question turned.

Sense 3. One of the cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [Rare.]

Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad From the four hinges of the world. Milton.

To be off the hinges (Fig.), to be in a state of disorder or irregularity. Tillotson.

Hīn'ge, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. HINGED; p. pr. & vb. n. HINGING.]

To furnish with hinges.
To bend like a hinge. [Obs.] “Hinge thy knee.” Shak.

Hīn'ge, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. To stand, depend, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision; — usually with on or upon.

Our persuasions of this fact must not be made to hinge on the native or independent force of the adjective there employed. I. Taylor.