to pin down
17
5.1
- phrasal verb
- /pɪn daʊn/
:
acorralar
- I don't like to be pinned down to, to something I have to do.
To which my brother's reply was my mum pinned me down so Beth could punch me in the face.
- To which my brother's reply was my mum pinned me down so Beth could punch me in the face.
- Try and get out this bed, You know, as I'm pinned down.
- And this guy's pinned down on my driveway behind my, my, my car.
- The most effective thing I think that we did with the combination of what we had was wrangling guys and pinning them down places and then dropping a bomb.
Examples
-
But he was hard to pin down.
Fiction book (1999) -
When you're pinned down, you make your deals with God.
-
Because once you actually push people to, to pin them down, what do you mean by it?
-
And we cannot pin him down either, on which is finally the text.
-
No one was going to pin me down, not me.
-
I can never pin you down.
-
Let me use words without trying to pin them down perfectly.
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The difficulty is pinning them down and saying this is a social species.
-
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tried to pin the general down on the number of U.S. troops needed.
Blog text (7) -
The detective tried to pin down the suspect's whereabouts during the investigation.
Synonyms
919
2.6
To catch and hold someone or something so they cannot leave
99
2.1
To hold something or someone firmly so they cannot move
41
5.3
Force someone to answer or act without time to prepare when they feel uncomfortable
1
9.5
To tie someone's arms or legs so they cannot move
Antonyms
How Confined
21
6.0
5
4.0
17
5.1
919
2.6
93
4.9
8
4.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to attach ... with a pin, making it stay in a fixed position' is directly derivable from combining 'pin' (to hold/fasten) with 'down' (indicating fixation or securing). This verb+particle composition follows a transparent, cross-linguistic pattern so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the intended literal meaning.
Etymology
Pin down comes from the image of holding someone to the ground, as in wrestling, so they cannot move. If you are 'pinned down' you cannot escape or answer freely, which is why the phrase now means 'to place someone in a confining or embarrassing position'.