Hinge

Hinge (hĭnj), 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.]

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.

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

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.

3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [R.]

When the moon is in the hinge at East. Creech.

Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad. Milton.

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.

Hinge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hinged; p. pr. & vb. n. Hinging.] 1. To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.

2. To bend. [Obs.] Shak.

Hinge (hĭnj), v. i. To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; — usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point. I. Taylor