Word.ws English Dictionary

pin the meter

pin the meter verb: to cause a meter to register its highest possible value.

Verb

pin the meter (third-person singular simple present pins the meter, present participle pinning the meter, simple past and past participle pinned the meter)

  1. (CB radio) To cause a meter to register its highest possible value.
    • If signals tend to pin the meter, the sensitivity can be reduced by adjustment of R1.1958, The Radio Amateur's Handbook, number 35, page 490
    • It is not possible to do this using an ohmmeter because the current flowing will pin the meter and may cause damage to the movement or even burn out the coil.1977, Amateur Radio, volume 33, page 59

Forms of pin the meter

third-person singular presentpins the meter
present participlepinning the meter
past participlepinned the meter
pastpinned the meter

Origin of pin the meter

In reference to the measuring needle looking as though it is pinned in place.

Questions about pin the meter

What does pin the meter mean?
Pin the meter means to cause a meter to register its highest possible value.
What part of speech is pin the meter?
Pin the meter is a verb.
What is the past tense of pin the meter?
The past tense of pin the meter is pinned the meter.

Words near pin the meter in the dictionary

  1. pin setter
  2. pin setters
  3. pin setting
  4. pin squat
  5. pin squats
  6. pin the meter
  7. pin the tail on the donkey
  8. pin up
  9. pin-brained
  10. pin-cushion
  11. pin-cushioned

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pin the meter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “pin the meter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pin_the_meter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.