Hairpin

Hairpin

Hairpin can mean:
* A long device used to hold a person's hair in place: see below
* Hairpin bend
* A stem-loop in biochemistry.----

A hair pin or hairpin is a long device used to hold a person's hair in place.

Hairpins made of metal, ivory, bronze, carved wood, etc. were used in ancient Assyria and Egypt for securing decorated hairstyles. Such hairpins suggest, as graves show, that many were luxury objects among the Egyptians and later Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Major success came in 1901 with the invention of the spiral hairpin by New Zealand inventor Ernest Godward. This was a predecessor of the hair clip.

The hairpin may be needle-like and encrusted with jewels and ornaments. It often may be more utiliarian—designed to be almost invisible after being inserted into the hairstyle.

Hairpins also may be constructed from different lengths of wire that are bent in half with a u-shaped end and a few kinks along the two opposite portions. The finished pin may vary from two to six inches in final length. The length of the wires enables placement in several styles of hairdos to hold the style in place. The kinks enable retaining the pin during normal movements.

See http://patents1.ic.gc.ca/details?patent_number=250155 for a patent in 1925 by Kelly Chamandy.

Other meanings

The nature of the U-shaped end of this design gave rise to an adjective to describe a particularly tight 180-degree turn in a road or racetrack or ski-run: see hairpin turn.

"Hairpins" is the name of a 1920 film, directed by Fred Niblo.

In music hairpin is a nickname for crescendo and decrescendo markings. See Dynamics (music)#Gradual changes

ee also

*Hair stick
*Hatpin


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • hairpin — (n.) also hair pin, 1788 (two words), from HAIR (Cf. hair) + PIN (Cf. pin) (n.). A hairpin turn, etc., is from 1906. Hairpin (or clothespin) was American English slang for person c.1880 1910, especially in the expression That s the kind of… …   Etymology dictionary

  • hairpin — [her′pin΄] n. a small, usually U shaped, piece of wire, shell, etc., for keeping the hair or a headdress in place adj. formed like a hairpin [a hairpin turn] …   English World dictionary

  • Hairpin — Hair pin ( p[i^]n ), n. A pin, usually forked, or of bent wire, for fastening the hair in place, used by women. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • hairpin — hairpin. См. шпилька. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • hairpin — ► NOUN ▪ a U shaped pin for fastening the hair …   English terms dictionary

  • hairpin — (= alpha hairpin; a hairpin; beta hairpin; b hairpin) Protein motif formed by two adjacent regions of a polypeptide chain that lie antiparallel and alongside each other. Depending on whether the polypeptide is in alpha helix or beta strand… …   Dictionary of molecular biology

  • hairpin — I. noun Date: 1771 1. a pin to hold the hair in place; specifically a long U shaped pin 2. something shaped like a hairpin; specifically a sharp U shaped turn in a road II. adjective Date: 1887 having the shape of a hairpin < a hairpin turn >; …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • hairpin — [[t]he͟ə(r)pɪn[/t]] hairpins 1) N COUNT A hairpin is a small piece of metal or plastic bent back on itself which someone uses to hold their hair in position. Syn: hairgrip 2) N COUNT A hairpin is the same as a hairpin bend …   English dictionary

  • hairpin — UK [ˈheə(r)ˌpɪn] / US [ˈherˌpɪn] noun [countable] Word forms hairpin : singular hairpin plural hairpins 1) a metal object used for holding hair in position, consisting of a thin piece of wire in the shape of a U 2) a hairpin bend …   English dictionary

  • Hairpin — Beispiel für eine RNA Haarnadelstruktur. Intramolekulare Basenpaarungen, die eine Haarnadelstruktur (engl. stem loop) bilden, kommen in einsträngiger DNA und häufiger in RNA vor. Handelt es sich um eine kurze Schleife, werden auch die Begriffe… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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