bin

1 of 4

noun (1)

plural bins
1
: a box, frame, crib, or enclosed place used for storage
2
chiefly British : a can for trash or garbage : dustbin
The woman retreated to a desk, dropping the leaflets in the bin as though she couldn't bear to hold them anymore.Denise Mina

bin

2 of 4

verb

binned; binning

transitive verb

: to put into a bin

BIN

3 of 4

noun (2)

linguistics
: the verb form been used with spoken emphasis in African American English to indicate that something (such as an event or state) happened or existed in the remote past or that it began in the remote past and is still ongoing : stressed bin
BIN, which is stressed, situates an eventuality or some part of it in the remote past. It has been shown that developing AAL-speaking children also produce BIN in spontaneous speech and interpret it as a marker that refers to the distant past.Lisa Green and Tracy Conner

Note: BIN frequently precedes perfect (see perfect entry 1 sense 5) verb forms, as well as progressive (see progressive entry 1 sense 6) verb forms ending in -ing. It can also precede the African American English feature perfective done, additional predicates (such as nouns, adjectives, and prepositional phrases), and, in certain contexts, adverbial phrases.

bin-

4 of 4

prefix

: bi- entry 1
binaural

Examples of bin in a Sentence

Noun (1) Put the old newspapers in the recycling bin. a storage bin for hats and gloves
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Passengers with Blue, Blue Plus, Blue Extra, and Mint fares can bring a carry-on bag (space permitting) that fits in the overhead bin, plus a personal item. Blane Bachelor, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Nov. 2023 The video, obtained by Fox News, shows a man hauling a large and seemingly heavy sack over his shoulder from the back of his car about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday and dumping it into a trash bin. Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023 Think of the advantages to composting at home: reduce odors and bugs in your green bin and spend less on food that isn’t eaten. Nate Northup, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Nov. 2023 Police have arrested a suspect after the partial remains of a woman were found Wednesday in a trash bin in Encino, Los Angeles. Patrick Smith, NBC News, 9 Nov. 2023 Most refrigerators come with a special bin or shelf on the door to hold the eggs. Taylor Tobin, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2023 This will show up in most flagship Android devices in 2024 and promises around 30 percent performance improvements while picking from Arm's parts bin. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 24 Oct. 2023 Cindy Crow, 36, of Decatur, Ala., was being held in lieu of a $200,000 bond after the body of her newborn baby was found inside a trash bag in a garbage bin behind a convenience store, police said. Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 22 Oct. 2023 The 21- by 14-inch interior capacity gives me room for bigger items and slides into the same spot the similarly sized cheap plastic bin used to fit. WIRED, 3 Nov. 2023
Verb
Words that hung in the air, where they could not be struck through and binned. Hannah Gold, Harper's Magazine, 11 Oct. 2022 The inner screen camera has a 32MP sensor and shoots 8MP shots (binned by a factor of four). Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 1 June 2023 The main camera captures approximately 48MP images that are binned down by four to produce 12MP jpegs. Eric Zeman, PCMAG, 11 May 2023 The result is an effective 48 megapixels of resolution which is designed to output binned 12-megapixel stills. Jon Porter, The Verge, 11 May 2023 In fact, after five failures in seven orbital launch attempts of its Rocket 3 vehicle, the company binned that design. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 6 Mar. 2023 Just bin it with the Articles and Native peace treaties. Dennard Dayle, The New Yorker, 22 July 2022 For instance, it was reported that Tesco suppliers are being forced to bin nearly 50 tonnes of food each week due to a lorry driver crisis. Amy Nguyen, Forbes, 25 June 2021 The reusable bins the company normally supplies to clients have been replaced by cardboard boxes. Kim Velsey, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2020 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English binn, from Old English

Prefix

Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin bini two by two; akin to Old English twinn twofold — more at twin

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1839, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1975, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bin was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near bin

Cite this Entry

“Bin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bin. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

Kids Definition

bin

noun
ˈbin
: a box, frame, or enclosed place for storage

More from Merriam-Webster on bin

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