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 7) 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
At a warehouse in Sumner, Wash., recently, a special crew of workers stepped in to help the people moving the plastic bins—humanoid robots. Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 26 Sep. 2024 Small sets of keys or spare change do not need to go in the bin. Ed Masley, The Arizona Republic, 14 Sep. 2024
Verb
This camera, which Apple calls a Fusion Camera, blends high-resolution 48MP snaps with 12MP Quad-Bayer shots (binned by a factor of four) to create 24MP final images. PCMAG, 23 Sep. 2024 Perhaps the best feature of the large hardside suitcase, though, is the side handle grip that makes lugging it into cars,cabs, and overhead bins a breeze. Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 17 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for bin 

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 8 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

bin

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

More from Merriam-Webster on bin

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