noun
- a small, pointed instrument for making holes in cloth, leather, etc.
- a long pinshaped instrument used by women to fasten up the hair.
- a blunt, needlelike instrument for drawing tape, cord, etc., through a loop, hem, or the like.
- Obsolete. a small dagger; stiletto.
noun
- a blunt large-eyed needle used esp for drawing tape through openwork
- archaic a dagger
- printing a pointed steel tool used for extracting characters when correcting metal type
- archaic a long ornamental hairpin
late 14c., boydekin, of unknown origin. The ending suggests a diminutive formation, and Celtic has been suggested as the source of the root.