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ninepins

[nahyn-pinz]
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noun
  1. (used with a singular verb) tenpins played without the head pin.
  2. ninepin, a pin used in this game.
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Origin of ninepins

1570–80; nine + pins
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ninepins

Historical Examples

  • Treat men as pawns and ninepins and you shall suffer as well as they.

    Essays, First Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Margaret hunted about in the attic, and found a box of ninepins.

    Margaret Montfort

    Laura E. Richards

  • Peter was silently appointed to set up the ninepins for them.

  • The Indians fell like ninepins, but there were always more to come on.

  • Had any one had the courage to do so, they would have gone down like a row of ninepins.

British Dictionary definitions for ninepins

ninepins

noun
  1. (functioning as singular) another name for skittlesSee skittle (def. 2)
  2. (singular) one of the pins used in this game
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ninepins

n.

1570s, from nine + pin (n.). From the number of pins to be knocked down.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper