linchpinn.
/ˈlɪn(t)ʃpɪn/, U.S. /ˈlɪn(t)ʃˌpɪn/ A pin passed through the end of an axle-tree to keep the wheel in its place.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > wheel > [noun] > parts of wheels > axle > linch-pin
lincha700
lin-pinc1330
linchpin1376
lin-nail1496
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > parts of vehicle moving on wheels > axle > fastening for
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axle-nailc1485
axle-pin?1523
ax-nail1585
1376–7 Compotus Roll Hyde Manor (MS Deeds Westmr. Abbey) In ij camellis ferri vocatis lynspins emptis pro carectis iiijd.
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xiv. 65 The pins at the ends of the Axeltree is called Linch pins.
1682 in Early Rec. Town of Providence (Rhode Island) (1894) VI. 93 Jn ye Parlor 3 Cart boxes, i lince pinn & a washer 00–01–00.
1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Lins-pin. See Linch-pin.
1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality II. xi. 166 One of the linch-pins that kept the wheel on the axletree.
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 441 If the rogue..Left out his linchpin, or forgot his tar.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Link-pins. Linch-pins are called also link-pins and lin-pins in the provinces.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 137 There was the good old custom of taking the lynch-pins out of the farmers and bagmen's gigs at the fairs.
1860 R. W. Emerson Considerations in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 226 But who dares draw out the linchpin from the waggon-wheel?
Derivatives
linchpinned adj. having linchpins.
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1893 H. J. Moule Old Dorset 109 Rough little cars, with wheels loosely linch-pinned.
Draft additions 1997
Frequency (in current use): Show frequency band information
2. figurative. A person or thing vital to an enterprise; a key component or governing principle.
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the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > that which is important > essential or central > upon which something depends
harrec1000
pina1538
key1559
pinch1581
axle-treec1600
axlea1634
fulcrum1668
keystone1722
pivot1748
turning-point1836
landmark1859
axis1860
linchpin1954
1954 M. Muggeridge Diary 5 Jan. in Like it Was (1981) 457 Tony Powell agreed with me that the death of Duff Cooper removed linchpin in particular social set.
1974 Nature 27 Sept. 363/2 He follows Holmes..in treating the Earth as a machine and making this, not the stratigraphical record, the linch-pin of his arguments.
1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. 1 c/2 The shuttle is the linchpin of Uganda's economic relationship with the west.
1981 Notes & Queries June 221/1 He is really the linchpin of a criminal empire.
1988 New Scientist 19 Nov. 42/1 The lynchpin of the debate is whether the characteristics that lungfishes and amphibians share are specialised characters of real evolutionary significance.
1994 Washington Post 23 Aug. a1/1 DNA fingerprinting is likely to be the linchpin of the prosecution's case.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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