safety pin
4
1.0
- noun
- /ˈseɪfti pɪn/
:
alfiler de seguridad
- The jacket barely covered her breasts and was held together with a single big safety pin.
- fastened with a safety pin
- secure with a safety pin
- held together with safety pins
And I saved the dress with the safety pin in it.
- And I saved the dress with the safety pin in it.
- So you could perfectly add a brooch or safety pin or whatever to a top that you already own, you know, to create that sort of drapery.
- But I have to cut open with a knife every morning or or take a flame to a safety pin and cut open the boils to drain the pus.
Examples
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The left sleeve was empty, fastened with a golden safety pin.
Fiction book (1995) -
The zipper's gone; the front's held together with safety pins.
Fiction book (1998) -
- I can fix that, with a safety pin.
-
Hey, do you have a safety pin?
-
Do you have any more safety pins?
-
Do you think you could find me some safety pins?
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Put a safety pin through the pieces every 8-10 inches or so.
Blog text (33) -
It was an old dress; other parts of the hem and waist had been held together with safety pins for months.
Fiction book (2000) -
He slipped into the jacket, opened the drawer, and fastened the spotted white ribbon to his lapel with a safety pin.
Fiction book (1993) -
I secured the hem of my dress with a safety pin to hold it in place.
Synonyms
153
1.0
A small metal or plastic object used to attach things to cloth
How Safe
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal compound 'safety pin' (a pin associated with safety) is transparently composed from 'safety' + 'pin', so the physical object is predictable from the words. However, the listed sense—wearing a safety pin as a public symbol of solidarity or protection—is a culturally conventionalized pragmatic meaning that cannot be derived from the constituents alone, so learners without cultural exposure are unlikely to infer it.
Etymology
Safety pin comes from a small pin with a simple cover that hides the sharp point so it will not prick you. The picture of a pin with a cover that keeps people safe explains why the word means 'a pin used to fasten clothes safely'.