'Hinge' definitions:

Definition of 'hinge'

noun

A joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other [syn: hinge, flexible joint]

noun

A circumstance upon which subsequent events depend; "his absence is the hinge of our plan"

verb

Attach with a hinge

From: GCIDE

From: GCIDE

Hinge \Hinge\, v. i. To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; -- usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point. --I. Taylor [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Hinge \Hinge\, n. [OE. henge, heeng; akin to D. heng, LG. henge, Prov. E. hingle a small hinge; connected with hang, v., and Icel. hengja to hang. See Hang.] [1913 Webster]
1. The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door, gate, lid, etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a strip of leather, which serves as a joint to turn on. [1913 Webster]
The gate self-opened wide, On golden hinges turning. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
2. That on which anything turns or depends; a governing principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was the hinge on which the question turned. [1913 Webster]
3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [R.] [1913 Webster]
When the moon is in the hinge at East. --Creech. [1913 Webster]
Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Hinge joint. (a) (Anat.) See Ginglymus. (b) (Mech.) Any joint resembling a hinge, by which two pieces are connected so as to permit relative turning in one plane.
To be off the hinges, to be in a state of disorder or irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]

Hinge (Heb. tsir), that on which a door revolves. "Doors in the East turn rather on pivots than on what we term hinges. In Syria, and especially in the Hauran, there are many ancient doors, consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved out of the same piece inserted in sockets above and below, and fixed during the building of the house" (Prov. 26:14).