Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
for two pins

for two pins

9.9
Almost willing to do something because you really want to
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : por dos alfileres
  • She looked so angry that for two pins she would have shouted at him.

Examples

  • He was so fed up that for two pins he would have walked out.

  • She would quit her job for two pins.

  • For two pins, I’d quit my job and move abroad.

  • I would leave this job for two pins!

  • For two pins, I’d quit my job and travel the world.

  • He was so irritated that for two pins, he would have accepted any opportunity to leave.

  • After that last meeting, for two pins, she would have walked out if she could.

Antonyms

reluctant
247 3.5

Not willing to do something because you feel unsure

unwilling
139 3.4

Not wanting to do something and doing it only because you must

How Tempted

eager
447 1.0
for two pins
  • Archaic
9.9
undecided
75 2.9
hesitant
73 3.2

Surface Forms

for two pins positive

Morphology

for + two + pin

The meaning 'very tempted or willing' cannot be derived from the literal parts 'for' + 'two' + 'pins' because 'pin(s)' as a small fastener (or rare slang for legs) gives no semantic clue to willingness; the phrase is idiomatic and regionally/archaisms likely. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but has not seen the expression would not predict this sense, so it is not compositionally transparent.

Etymology

For two pins comes from an old sewing image: imagine a dress or coat held by just two pins, so that if those tiny pins moved the whole thing might fall or shift. So saying for two pins means you are so close to doing something that only a very small thing would make you do it, in other words 'very tempted' or 'on the point of'.