pincushion
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɪnˌkʊʃn̩/
ipa: /ˈpɪnˌkʊʃ(ə)n/
Forms: form: pincushions
form: pincushioning
form: pincushioned
form: pincushioned
Etymology: The noun is derived from pin + cushion. The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: The target was pincushioned with arrows.
text: [page 290] Then Esther would be constantly making us little presents; little pin-cushions, and purses, and such like, which it was impossible to refuse. [...] [W]e had some very fine old lace, which had belonged to our mother, and we agreed that we would give this to Esther. [...] [pages 291–292] When the transaction came to Aunt Dorothy's knowledge, she was very indignant indeed; and said that we were "two fools to be pin-cushioned out of our mother's old point, which had been in our family ever so long.
ref: [1853, [Anne Marsh-Caldwell], chapter XVI, in The Longwoods of the Grange. … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 290 and 291–292:
text: As I saw Lady Baker hanging round her son's neck, and fondling his scanty ringlets, I remembered the awful stories with which in former days she used to entertain us regarding this reprobate. Her heart was pincushioned with his filial crimes.
ref: 1860 January–June, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “A Black Sheep”, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, →OCLC, page 146:
text: Again, the double Lobelia is not to be trusted in a row where uniformity of colour is an object. […] Its place is pin[-]cushioned among such delicate flowers as Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums and Duke of Edinburgh, the grand tufts of flowers having a chaste and charming effect among the beautiful foliage and beautiful flowers of such delicate colours, and the failures being little observed.
ref: [1876 November, “F.” [pseudonym], “The Flower Garden as It is This Year as a Guide to What It is to be Next”, in D. T. Fish, editor, The Villa Gardener, London: […] Virtue & Co., →OCLC, page 348, column 1:
text: Lester and his two boys, Ray and Steve, lay in the ranchyard pincushioned with arrows.
ref: 2001 January, Peter Brandvold, chapter 4, in The Romantics, New York, N.Y.: Forge Books, →ISBN; 1st mass market edition, New York, N.Y.: Forge Books, Tom Doherty Associates, March 2002, →ISBN, page 40:
text: Well, folks, not to worry. First, I was stuffed to the gullet with malaria prophylactics and pincushioned with inoculations against the most prevalent tropical maladies [...]
ref: 2005 September, Tom Robbins, “The Day the Earth Spit Warthogs”, in Wild Ducks Flying Backward: The Short Writings of Tom Robbins, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 39; 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, September 2006, →ISBN:
text: Why hadn't I ever considered the extremely agonizing spikiness of a Christmas tree? The vicious needles pincushioned my hands and the tree wobbled precariously as I scrabbled for a pain-free hold.
ref: 2013, Pippa Wright, The Foster Husband, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, pages 87–88:
glosses: To jab or stick repeatedly with one or more sharp objects, as with pins into a pincushion.
examples: text: A monitor is pincushioning when the display appears to have curved sides.
ref: 2001, Michael Byrd, Jim Pearson, Robert A. Saigh, “Graphics”, in Handbook of Computer Troubleshooting, Chicago, Ill.; London: Glenlake Publishing Company; Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 206:
text: [page 42] Flaps, however, ‘pin cushion’ and develop a convex form as they contract. For this reason, flaps are best used to resurface convex surfaces. A skin graft is best for planar or concave recipient sites. [...] [page 282] As the flap contracts, it pin cushions. This trapdoor effect can contribute to a convex shape.
ref: 2009, Frederick Menick, “The Nasal Defect – Understanding the Challenge”; “Restoring Contour – Recreating a Subsurface Architecture”, in Nasal Reconstruction: Art and Practice, [Edinburgh]: Mosby Elsevier, →ISBN, pages 42 and 282:
text: A circular island flap may pin-cushion. This complication can be avoided with proper planning.
ref: 2011 June, Mary Tschoi, Erik A. Hoy, Mark S. Granick, “Skin Flaps”, in Deborah S. Hickman Mathis (guest editor), Nancy Girard, editors, Perioperative Nursing Clinics: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, volume 6, number 2, Philadelphia, Pa.: W. B. Saunders Company, Elsevier, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 180:
coordinate_terms: barrel
glosses: To assume the shape of a pincushion; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit pincushion distortion, where the sides curve inwards.