linchpin









linchpin


linchpin or lynch·pin [linch-pin] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for linchpin on Thesaurus.com noun

  1. a pin inserted through the end of an axletree to keep the wheel on.
  2. something that holds the various elements of a complicated structure together: The monarchy was the linchpin of the nation’s traditions and society.

Origin of linchpin 1350–1400; unexplained alteration of Middle English lynspin, equivalent to lyns, Old English lynis axle-pin (cognate with German Lünse) + pin pin Related Words for linchpin pillar, backbone, bulwark, linchpin, mainstay, foundation, keystone, essential, strength, buttress, standby, sinew, prop, supporter, crutch, stay, brace, anchor, staff, maintainer Examples from the Web for linchpin Contemporary Examples of linchpin

  • At the moment, Yisrael Beiteinu is the linchpin of the coming rightist government.

    Lieberman’s Distraction

    Brent E. Sasley

    December 13, 2012

  • Bolshevism was the linchpin that held all the other facets of conspiracy together.

    Soviet Communism’s Collapse Left America’s Far Right Without a Real Foe

    Lee Siegel

    April 12, 2012

  • It was one courier in particular that proved the linchpin in Sunday night’s operation that killed the al Qaeda leader.

    Osama bin Laden’s Courier: The Man Who Led the U.S. to bin Laden

    Josh Dzieza

    May 3, 2011

  • Historical Examples of linchpin

  • When the linchpin comes out on his side, there’ll be a jerk, I tell you!

    The Professor at the Breakfast Table

    Oliver Wendell Holmes (Sr.)

  • I will try to be brave, ma’am; but I really did try to put the linchpin back.

    Leslie Ross:

    Charles Bruce

  • If an axle had broken or a linchpin loosened the race would have been lost.

    Blazing The Way

    Emily Inez Denny

  • A linchpin had fallen out, and permitted one of the wheels to slide off.

    Twice-Told Tales

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Linchpin, linsh′pin, n. a pin used to keep the wheel of a carriage on the axle-tree.

    Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)

    Various

  • British Dictionary definitions for linchpin linchpin lynchpin noun

    1. a pin placed transversely through an axle to keep a wheel in position
    2. a person or thing regarded as an essential or coordinating elementthe linchpin of the company

    Word Origin for linchpin C14 lynspin, from Old English lynis Word Origin and History for linchpin n.

    also linch-pin, late 14c., earlier linspin, from Middle English lins “axletree” (see linch) + pin (n.). The peg that holds a wheel on an axle; now mainly figurative.

    52 queries 0.563