Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Pinch \Pinch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pinched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Pinching}.] [F. pincer, probably fr. OD. pitsen to pinch;
   akin to G. pfetzen to cut, pinch; perhaps of Celtic origin.
   Cf. {Piece}.]
   1. To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers,
      between teeth or claws, or between the jaws of an
      instrument; to squeeze or compress, as between any two
      hard bodies.

   2. o seize; to grip; to bite; -- said of animals. [Obs.]

            He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down.
                                                  --Chapman.

   3. To plait. [Obs.]

            Full seemly her wimple ipinched was.  --Chaucer.

   4. Figuratively: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to
      starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money.

            Want of room . . . pinching a whole nation. --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.

   5. To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a
      pinch. See {Pinch}, n., 4.

Source : WordNet®

pinched
     adj 1: sounding as if the nose were pinched; "a whining nasal
            voice" [syn: {adenoidal}, {nasal}]
     2: very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold;
        "emaciated bony hands"; "a nightmare population of gaunt
        men and skeletal boys"; "eyes were haggard and cavernous";
        "small pinched faces"; "kept life in his wasted frame only
        by grim concentration" [syn: {bony}, {cadaverous}, {emaciated},
         {gaunt}, {haggard}, {skeletal}, {wasted}]
     3: not having enough money to pay for necessities [syn: {hard
        up}, {impecunious}, {in straitened circumstances(p)}, {penniless},
         {penurious}]
     4: as if squeezed uncomfortably tight; "her pinched toes in her
        pointed shoes were killing her"