To be off the hinges
(gcide) | Hinge \Hinge\, n. [OE. henge, heeng; akin to D. heng, LG. henge,
Prov. E. hingle a small hinge; connected with hang, v., and
Icel. hengja to hang. See Hang.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door,
gate, lid, etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a
strip of leather, which serves as a joint to turn on.
[1913 Webster]
The gate self-opened wide,
On golden hinges turning. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. That on which anything turns or depends; a governing
principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was
the hinge on which the question turned.
[1913 Webster]
3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or
south. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
When the moon is in the hinge at East. --Creech.
[1913 Webster]
Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Hinge joint.
(a) (Anat.) See Ginglymus.
(b) (Mech.) Any joint resembling a hinge, by which two
pieces are connected so as to permit relative turning
in one plane.
To be off the hinges, to be in a state of disorder or
irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. --Tillotson.
[1913 Webster] |