clothespin

American  

[klohz-pin, klohthz-, klohs-] / ˈkloʊzˌpɪn, ˈkloʊðz-, ˈkloʊs- /

noun

1. a device, such as a forked piece of wood or plastic, for fastening articles to a clothesline.

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Etymology

Origin of clothespin

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50; clothes + pin

Example Sentences

Keaton stuck a clothespin on the tip of her nose to make it smaller, and acted the part of an extrovert: big laugh, big hair and, when she stopped liking her hair, big hats.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2025

Claes Oldenburg had transformed everyday objects — a clothespin, a shoe, a hamburger — into monumental commentaries on the society that manufactures them.

From New York Times • Dec. 29, 2022

The Browns miscalculated, believing that their starving fans would clothespin their noses to escape the stench and instead fantasize about the Super Bowl possibilities with Watson helming the team.

From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2022

Men in suits are not men who roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty; besides, he's a man who clips closed his pants cuffs with a clothespin to make his bike ride safer.

From Salon • Mar. 18, 2022

Her features, too, were narrow, with nostrils so slim that they appeared to have been pinched with a clothespin.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri