feel the pinch

: to handle or touch in order to examine, test, or explore some quality

: to perceive by a physical sensation coming from discrete end organs (as of the skin or muscles)

: to undergo passive experience of

: sensation, feeling

: the sense of touch

: the quality of a thing as imparted through or as if through touch

: to squeeze between the finger and thumb or between the jaws of an instrument

: to prune the tip of (a plant or shoot) usually to induce branching

: to squeeze or compress painfully

: a critical juncture : emergency

: pressure, stress

: hardship, privation

: substitute

: hit by a pinch hitter