to be off the hinges

1 definition found

to be off the hinges - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Hinge \Hinge\, n. [OE. henge, heeng; akin to D. heng, LG. henge,
     Prov. E. hingle a small hinge; connected with hang, v., and
     Icel. hengja to hang. See Hang.]
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     1. The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door,
        gate, lid, etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a
        strip of leather, which serves as a joint to turn on.
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              The gate self-opened wide,
              On golden hinges turning.             --Milton.
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     2. That on which anything turns or depends; a governing
        principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was
        the hinge on which the question turned.
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     3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or
        south. [R.]
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              When the moon is in the hinge at East. --Creech.
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              Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad.
                                                    --Milton.
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     Hinge joint.
        (a) (Anat.) See Ginglymus.
        (b) (Mech.) Any joint resembling a hinge, by which two
            pieces are connected so as to permit relative turning
            in one plane.
  
     To be off the hinges, to be in a state of disorder or
        irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment. --Tillotson.
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