If you try to pin something down, you try to discover exactly what, where, or when it is.
It has taken until now to pin down its exact location. [VERBPARTICLE noun]
I can only pin it down to between 1936 and 1942. [VERB noun PARTICLE + to]
If we cannot pin down exactly what we are supposed to be managing, how can we manageit? [VERBPARTICLE wh]
[Also VERB noun PARTICLE]
2. phrasal verb
If you pin someone down, you force them to make a decision or to tell you what their decision is, when they have been trying to avoid doing this.
She couldn't pin him down to a date. [V n P + to/on]
...their repeated efforts to pin him down on a number of topics. [V n Pto/on n]
If you pin people down, they will tell you some puzzling things about stress. [VERB noun PARTICLE]
[Also VERBPARTICLE noun (not pronoun)]
More Synonyms of pin down
See full dictionary entry for pin
pin down in British English
verb(tr, adverb)
1.
to force (someone) to make a decision or carry out a promise
2.
to define clearly
I had a vague suspicion that I couldn't quite pin down
3.
to confine to a place
the fallen tree pinned her down
nounpindown
4. social welfare
a now-discredited system of disciplining children, which included the use of physical or emotional punishments such as locking a child in a room for long periods
5. wrestling
a pinfall
6. military
the use of air attacks, missiles, etc to prevent military forces from moving
7. military
the situation or condition of being unable to move or manoeuvre because of the action of enemy forces
pin down in American English
1.
to get (someone) to make a decision, commitment, etc.
2.
to determine or confirm (a fact, details, etc.)
See full dictionary entry for pin
Examples of 'pin down' in a sentence
pin down
The only thing I was now sure of, after a morning of study, was my ability to pin down Dechavanne over his project.
Malcolm, John THE GWEN JOHN SCULPTURE
Removing the plans from their protective cover, he spread them across the bed; several bulky UNACO files were used to pin down the edges.
MacNeill, Alastair CODE BREAKER
I had seen Gifty with other men and I had noticed something about those men that I couldn't pin down.
Robert Wilson A DARKENING STAIN (2002)
Would you agree to some tests to pin down the cause of infertility?
Elizabeth Lowell TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (2001)
Chinese translation of 'pin down'
pin down
vt
to pin sb down (to sth)迫使某人履行(某事) (pòshǐ mǒurén lǚxíng (mǒushì))
(= identify)[date, location, source of problem]确(確)定 (quèdìng)