hinge

Plural: hinges

Noun

a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other
a circumstance upon which subsequent events depend
- "his absence is the hinge of our plan"
A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
A naturally occurring joint resembling such hardware in form or action, as in the shell of a bivalve.
A stamp hinge, a folded and gummed paper rectangle for affixing postage stamps in an album.
A principle, or a point in time, on which subsequent reasonings or events depend.
The median of the upper or lower half of a batch, sample, or probability distribution.
One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
A movement that presents itself as rotation when an off-centre fixed point is taken into account.
In polyamory, a person connected emotionally or sexually to two others who are not connected to each other.
To be in poor health; to be out of sorts.

Verb

attach with a hinge
To attach by, or equip with a hinge.
To depend on something.
The breaking off of the distal end of a knapped stone flake whose presumed course across the face of the stone core was truncated prematurely, leaving not a feathered distal end but instead the scar of a nearly perpendicular break.
To bend.
To move or already be positioned in such a fashion that it presents itself as rotation when an off-centre fixed point is taken into account.

Examples

"The flake hinged at an inclusion in the core."
"This argument was the hinge on which the question turned."

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English henge, from Old English *henġ (“hinge”), compare Old English henġe- in henġeclif (“overhanging cliff”), Old English henġen (“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”), from Proto-West Germanic *hangiju. Akin to Scots heenge (“hinge”), Saterland Frisian Hänge (“hinge”), Dutch heng (“door handle”), Low German henge (“a hook, hinge, handle”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe (“a hook, hinge, handle”), Scots hingel (“any attachment by which something is hung or fastened”), Dutch hengel (“hook”), geheng (“hinge”), hengsel (“handle”), Danish hængsel (“hinge”), dialectal German Hängel (“hook, joint”), German Henkel (“handle, hook”), Old English hōn (“to hang”), hangian (“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.

Synonyms

flexible joint, har, quartile, swing

Scrabble Score: 9

hinge is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
hinge is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hinge is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

hinge is a valid Words With Friends word