Pin vs. Impale: What's the Difference?

Pin and Impale Definitions

A short, straight, stiff piece of wire with a blunt head and a sharp point, used especially for fastening.

Impale

To pierce with a sharp stake or point.

Something, such as a safety pin, that resembles such a piece of wire in shape or use.

Impale

To torture or kill by impaling.

A whit; a jot

Didn't care a pin about the matter.

Impale

(transitive) To pierce (something) with any long, pointed object.

A thin rod for securing the ends of fractured bones.

Impale

To place two coats of arms side by side on the same shield (often those of two spouses upon marriage).

A peg for fixing the crown to the root of a tooth.

Impale

(ambitransitive) To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake.

A cotter pin.

Impale

(ambitransitive) To enclose or fence with stakes.

The part of a key stem entering a lock.

Impale

To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. See Empale.

Then with what life remains, impaled, and leftTo writhe at leisure round the bloody stake.

(Music) One of the pegs securing the strings and regulating their tension on a stringed instrument.

Impale

To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround.

Impale him with your weapons round about.

Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire.

(Nautical) A belaying pin.

Impale

To join, as two coats of arms on one shield, palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention.

Ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same to be matched and impaled with the blessed Virgin in the honor thereof.

(Nautical) A thole pin.

Impale

Pierce with a sharp stake or point;

Impale a shrimp on a skewer

An ornament fastened to clothing by means of a clasp.

Impale

Kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole;

The enemies were impaled and left to die

A rolling pin.

One of the wooden clubs at which the ball is aimed in bowling.

A flagstick.

See fall.

Pins(Informal) The legs

Is steady on his pins.

(Electronics) A lead on a device that plugs into a socket to connect the device to a system.

Any of the pegs on the platen of a printer, which engage holes at the edges of paper.

Any of the styluses that form a dot matrix on a printer.

Any of the small metal prongs at the end of a connector that fit into the holes in a port.

To fasten or secure with or as if with a pin or pins.

To transfix.

To place in a position of trusting dependence

He pinned his faith on an absurdity.

To hold fast; immobilize

He was pinned under the wreckage of the truck.

(Sports) To win a fall from in wrestling.

To give (a woman) a fraternity pin in token of attachment.

Having a grain suggestive of the heads of pins. Used of leather.

A needle without an eye (usually) made of drawn-out steel wire with one end sharpened and the other flattened or rounded into a head, used for fastening.

A small nail with a head and a sharp point.

A cylinder often of wood or metal used to fasten or as a bearing between two parts.

Pull the pin out of the grenade before throwing it at the enemy.

The victory condition of holding the opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat for a prescribed period of time.

A slender object specially designed for use in a specific game or sport, such as skittles or bowling.

A leg.

I'm not so good on my pins these days.

(electricity) Any of the individual connecting elements of a multipole electrical connector.

The UK standard connector for domestic mains electricity has three pins.

A piece of jewellery that is attached to clothing with a pin.

(US) A simple accessory that can be attached to clothing with a pin or fastener, often round and bearing a design, logo or message, and used for decoration, identification or to show political affiliation, etc.

(chess) Either a scenario in which moving a lesser piece to escape from attack would expose a more valuable piece to being taken instead, or one where moving a piece is impossible as it would place the king in check.

(golf) The flagstick: the flag-bearing pole which marks the location of a hole

(curling) The spot at the exact centre of the house (the target area)

The shot landed right on the pin.

(archery) The spot at the exact centre of the target, originally a literal pin that fastened the target in place.

(obsolete) A mood, a state of being.

One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each person should drink.

Caligo.

A thing of small value; a trifle.

A peg in musical instruments for increasing or relaxing the tension of the strings.

(engineering) A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal.

The tenon of a dovetail joint.

A size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.

(informal) A pinball machine.

I spent most of my time in the arcade playing pins.

(locksmithing) A small cylindrical object which blocks the rotation of a pin-tumbler lock when the incorrect key is inserted.

(often followed by a preposition such as "to" or "on") To fasten or attach (something) with a pin.

To cause (a piece) to be in a pin.

(wrestling) To pin down (someone).

He pinned his opponent on the mat.

To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.

To attach (an icon, application, message etc.) to another item so that it persists.

To pin a folder to the taskbar

To fix (an array in memory, a security certificate, etc.) so that it cannot be modified.

When marshaling data, the interop marshaler can copy or pin the data being marshaled.

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(transitive) To cause an analog gauge to reach the stop pin at the high end of the range.

To peen.

To inclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.

To fasten with, or as with, a pin; to join; as, to pin a garment; to pin boards together.

A piece of wood, metal, etc., generally cylindrical, used for fastening separate articles together, or as a support by which one article may be suspended from another; a peg; a bolt.

With pins of adamantAnd chains they made all fast.

Especially, a small, pointed and headed piece of brass or other wire (commonly tinned), largely used for fastening clothes, attaching papers, etc.

Hence, a thing of small value; a trifle.

He . . . did not care a pin for her.

That which resembles a pin in its form or use

One of a row of pegs in the side of an ancient drinking cup to mark how much each man should drink.

The bull's eye, or center, of a target; hence, the center.

Mood; humor.

Caligo. See Caligo.

An ornament, as a brooch or badge, fastened to the clothing by a pin; as, a Masonic pin.

The leg; as, to knock one off his pins.

A piece of jewelry that is pinned onto the wearer's garment

When a wrestler's shoulders are forced to the mat

Small markers inserted into a surface to mark scores or define locations etc.

A number you choose and use to gain access to various accounts

Informal terms of the leg;

Fever left him weak on his sticks

Axis consisting of a short shaft that supports something that turns

Cylindrical tumblers consisting of two parts that are held in place by springs; when they are aligned with a key the bolt can be thrown

Flagpole used to mark the position of the hole on a golf green

A small slender (often pointed) piece of wood or metal used to support or fasten or attach things

A holder attached to the gunwale of a boat that holds the oar in place and acts as a fulcrum for rowing

A club-shaped wooden object used in bowling; set up in groups as a target

To hold fast or prevent from moving;

The child was pinned under the fallen tree

Attach or fasten with pins

Pierce with a pin;

Pin down the butterfly

Immobilize a piece

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