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Pinch vs Pat - What's the difference?

pinch | pat | Related terms |

Pinch is a related term of pat.


As a verb pinch

is to squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

As a noun pinch

is the action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

pinch

English

Verb

(es)
  • To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
    • The children were scolded for pinching each other.
    This shoe pinches my foot.
  • To steal, usually of something almost trivial or inconsequential.
    • Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 13 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.}}
  • (slang) To arrest or capture.
  • (horticulture) To cut shoots]] or [[bud, buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
  • (nautical) To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
  • (hunting) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
  • (obsolete) To be niggardly or covetous.
    • (Gower)
  • * Franklin
    • the wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare
  • To seize; to grip; to bite; said of animals.
  • * Chapman
    • He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down.
  • (figurative) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.
    • to be pinched for money
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • want of room pinching a whole nation
  • To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.

    • Noun

    (es)
  • The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
  • A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
  • An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 171:
    • It took nerve and muscle both to carry the body out and down the stairs to the lower hall, but he damn well had to get it out of his place and away from his door, and any of those four could have done it in a pinch', and it sure was a ' pinch .
  • An organic herbal smoke additive.

    • Derived terms

    * feel the pinch * in a pinch * at a pinch * pinchy * take with a pinch of salt

    Descendants

    * Japanese: (pinchi)

    pat

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . For loss of ''l , compare (patch) for (platch); (pate) for (plate), etc. See (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
  • A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
  • A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
  • * Charles Dickens
    • It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
    Derived terms
    * pat on the back (n.) * patter * pitter-pat: a diminutive of footfalls. "the pitter-pat of little feet running around the house."

    Verb

    (patt)
  • To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
    • To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
    • He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.
  • To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
    • I patted the cookie dough into shape.
  • * 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
    • Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
  • (Australia, New Zealand) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
    • Do you want to pat the cat?
  • To gently rain.
    • Derived terms
    * pat down * pat on the back (v.)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • timely, suitable, apt, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken
    • a pat expression
  • * 1788, Cowper, Pity for Africans , p 18
    • A story so pat , you may think it is coined.
  • trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality
  • * 2010, New York Times , Editorial: Jobs and the Class of 2010, May 23.
    • The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects. ''
    Derived terms
    * pat hand

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
  • * c''. 1600 , William Shakespeare, '' III.iii
    • Now might I do it pat
  • Perfectly.
    • He has the routine down pat .
    Derived terms
    * pat in the middle

    See also

    * strike * hit * feel * name

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • patent
  • (knitting) pattern
  • * 2012 , Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World (page 52)
    • Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder

    Anagrams

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