Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HINGE, n. [hinj; This word appears to be connected with hang, and with angle, the verb; G. angel, a hook or hinge; D. hengzel, a hinge, a handle.]

1. The hook or joint on which a door or gate turns. The gate self-opened wide / On golden hinges turning. Milton.
2. That on which any thing depends or turns; a governing principle, rule or point. This argument was the hinge on which the question turned.
3. A cardinal point; as, east, west, north or south. [Little used.] Creech. To be off the hinges, is to be in a state of disorder or irregularity. Tillotson.