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.]
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.
The gate self-opened wide,
On golden hinges turning.
Milton.
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.
3.
One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
[R.]
When the moon is in the hinge at East.
Creech.
Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad.
Milton.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Hinge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hinged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Hinging (?).]
1.
To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.
2.
To bend.
[Obs.]
Shak.
© Webster 1913.
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
© Webster 1913.