pins and needles

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noun

a tingly, prickly sensation in a limb that is recovering from numbness.

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Idioms about pins and needles

on pins and needles, in a state of nervous anticipation: The father-to-be was on pins and needles.

Origin of pins and needles

First recorded in 1800–10

Words nearby pins and needles

pinpoint, pinpoint bombing, pinprick, pin rail, PINS, pins and needles, pinscher, pin seal, Pinsent, pinsetter, Pinsk

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pins and needles in a sentence

As an example of good science-and-society policymaking, the history of fluoride may be more of a cautionary tale.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“This is the only place in the souk you can buy safety pins,” he said.
The Photographer Who Gave Up Manhattan for Marrakech|Liza Foreman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Yes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game|Michael Tomasky|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Later that night, that same black-and-red banner would be seen again—in the column of marchers chanting for dead cops.
The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops|Jacob Siegel|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only in two-and-twenty.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
Sometimes dumb-bells, compact sheaves of fine needles, and irregular rhizome forms are seen (Fig. 40).
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Mr. Spurrell came down to see a horse, and we shall be very glad to have the benefit of his opinion by-and-by.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 107, November 3, 1894|Various
They were eaten too quickly, in long gulps of four-and-twenty hours at a time.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for pins and needles

pins and needles

noun (functioning as singular) informal

a tingling sensation in the fingers, toes, legs, etc, caused by the return of normal blood circulation after its temporary impairment

on pins and needles in a state of anxious suspense or nervous anticipation

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

pins and needles

Idioms about pins and needles

Origin of pins and needles

Words nearby pins and needles

Words related to pins and needles

How to use pins and needles in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pins and needles