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pinch

/pɪntʃ//pɪntʃ/·verb, noun
to squeeze something at one point between two surfaces; (noun) the amount held between finger and thumb
Fig. 1 — Thumb and forefinger — that is the whole tool.
01Definition

To pinch is to press a thing at a single point between two surfaces — classically finger and thumb: you pinch a cheek, pinch a fold of dough closed, pinch out a seedling's tip. Shoes pinch where they press; a nerve is pinched where bone squeezes it. The noun is what the grip holds — a pinch of salt — and English has built a small economy on the squeeze: feeling the pinch when money tightens, pinching pennies, managing in a pinch.

02In use
  • iPinch the pastry edges together so the filling cannot escape.
  • iiThese new boots pinch at the heel after an hour of walking.
  • iiiAdd a pinch of salt and taste before seasoning further.
03Collocations
  • a pinch of salt
  • feel the pinch
  • in a pinch
  • pinch pennies
  • a pinched nerve
  • shoes that pinch

Family pinch (noun) · pinched (adjective)

04Relations

=squeeze, nip, tweak, compress, grip

≠release, loosen, let go

06TOEFL & IELTS

The literal verb is easy; the idioms are the exam value. Feel the pinch — suffer when money gets tight (perfect for economy essays: 'households felt the pinch of inflation'). In a pinch (US) / at a pinch (UK) — if absolutely necessary. Pinch pennies — be very frugal. And the salt idiom splits by region: Americans take claims with a grain of salt, the British with a pinch. A pinched face is drawn thin by cold or worry — description-task vocabulary.

07Asked
Is it 'a grain of salt' or 'a pinch of salt'?
Both, split by region: take it with a grain of salt is the American form, with a pinch of salt the British one — same meaning, treat the claim with healthy doubt. The image is old: a little salt makes something easier to swallow. In your own writing either is fine, but keep the variety consistent with your spelling choices — grain with color, pinch with colour.
What does 'feel the pinch' mean?
To start suffering because money has tightened — households feel the pinch of rising prices, businesses feel the pinch when orders dry up. The metaphor is the shoe's: pressure at exactly the point where there is no give. It is the standard collocation for economic hardship in news English.
What does 'in a pinch' mean?
If it becomes absolutely necessary; as a makeshift: 'in a pinch, a coin will do as a screwdriver'. British English prefers at a pinch. The pinch here is the tight spot itself — the moment of pressure when the normal option is missing and something else must serve. Related but distinct: 'when it comes to the pinch' means when the critical moment actually arrives.
How much is a pinch, as a measurement?
As much as your finger and thumb can hold — informally standardised in American cookbooks at about 1/16 of a teaspoon (some kitchens sell 'pinch' measuring spoons). The point of the unit is its built-in modesty: it exists so recipes can ask for less than any spoon measures. The scene above is the definition in motion: the measure is whatever survives the trip from bowl to pot.
What is a pinched nerve?
A nerve compressed at one point by the tissue around it — bone, disc or swollen muscle — producing pain, tingling or numbness along its path; a slipped disc pinching the root of the sciatic nerve is the textbook case. Medicine says 'compressed nerve' in formal writing, but pinched is what patients and doctors actually say. The word is doing its precise work: pressure applied at a single point.
What does 'pinch pennies' mean?
To be extremely careful — often too careful — with small amounts of money: squeezing every penny before letting it go. A penny-pincher is the person; penny-pinching, as noun or adjective, is the habit ('a penny-pinching budget'). Unlike thrifty, which approves, penny-pinching usually carries a curl of the lip: frugality that has forgotten what money is for.
Does British English use pinch to mean steal?
Yes — informal British English pinches wallets as well as cheeks: 'someone pinched my bike'. It is casual, almost affectionate, well below 'steal' in seriousness of tone, and common in speech and fiction; keep it out of formal writing. The same register holds for the police sense ('he got pinched') in old crime slang — recognise it in reading, do not deploy it in essays.