different between hairpin vs bodkin

English

Alternative forms

• hair pin, hair-pin

Etymology

From hair +? pin, 1788 (as hair pin). Adjective sense 1906 in hairpin turn etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?he??p?n/

Noun

hairpin (plural hairpins)

1. A pin or fastener for the hair.
2. (biology) A kind of ribozyme; hairpin ribozyme.
3. (chiefly attributive) A very tight bend in a road.
   • 2009, Bob Sehlinger, Grant Rafter, Beyond Disney (page 280)

     The variety of angles in the course, from slow bends to hairpins, will both test your skill as a driver and allow you the opportunity to pass other carts.

4. (music) An elongated v-shaped sign placed underneath a staff to indicate a crescendo

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• barrette
• dogleg
• switchback

References

English

Alternative forms

• bodikin, bodkine, botkin, boidken

Etymology

From Middle English boydekin (“dagger”), apparently from *boyde, *boide (of unknown [Celtic?] origin) + -kin. Cognate with Scots botkin, boitkin, boikin (“bodkin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?dk?n/

Noun

bodkin (plural bodkins)

1. A small sharp pointed tool for making holes in cloth or leather.
2. A blunt needle used for threading ribbon or cord through a hem or casing.
3. A hairpin.
4. A dagger.
   • 1932, D. H. Lawrence, The Ship of Death:

     And can a man his own quietus make / with a bare bodkin? / With daggers, bodkins, bullets, man can make / a bruise or break of exit for his life; / but is that a quietus, O tell me, is it quietus?

5. A type of long thin arrowhead.
6. (printing) A sharp tool, like an awl, formerly used for pressing down individual type characters letters from a column or page in making corrections.

Translations

Adverb

bodkin (not comparable)

1. Closely wedged between two people.
   • 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero, Bradbury and Evans, 1853. page 343.

     He's too big to travel bodkin between you and me.

Further reading

• bodkin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Dobkin