Pinch | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Pinch, v. t.

verbtransitive

(66), v. t. [imp. & p. p. PINCHED (pĭncht); p. pr. & vb. n. PINCHING.] [Fr. pincer, formerly pinser; Sp. pizcar and pinchar, It. pizzare, pizzicare, from O. D. pitsen, Ger. pfitzen, pfetzen, to pinch, cut.]

To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, the teeth, claws, an instrument, or the like.
To squeeze or compress between any two hard bodies.
To pain by constriction; to straiten; to oppress with want; to distress; as, to pinch a nation; to pinch the belly; to be pinched for want of food. Milton.

Pinch, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To act with pressing force; to bear hard; as, the shoe pinches. 2. (Hunting.) To press on and take. As a sort of dogs that at a lion bay, And entertain no spirit to pinch. Chapman. 3. To spare; to be straitened; to be covetous. The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare, Starve, steal, and pilfer, to enrich an heir. Franklin.

Pinch, n.

noun

n. 1. A close compression with the ends of the fingers; also, that which is taken between the ends of the fingers.

Distress inflicted or suffered; pressure; oppression; difficulty. “Necessity’s sharp pinch.” Shak.
A lever having a projection acting as a fulcrum near one end, used chiefly to roll heavy wheels, &c.; — called also pinch-bar.

A spoked wheel presses a strip against a grooved surface. — Pinch. (3.)