pin down

In most cases, events cannot be pinned down to a specific month or day, just a season or period (eg. before September).

He said he and his family had been pinned down by heavy gunfire for more than seven hours on Sunday in their home on Sirte's east side.

It had taken all his strength to keep her pinned down and let the garrote do its job.

And with the U. S. pinned down in Iraq and Afghanistan there's little Washington can do to scare Iran into changing its ambitions.

For most of the following day the men were pinned down, finding themselves unable either to advance or to retreat.

The precise sources of the PCB plume should be pinned down and used to complete the pollutant inventories of African countries, she says.

Millions of Americans now find themselves pinned down in places where unemployment rates are well above the national average.

It was a dangerously foolish area to which they pinned down a major portion of US military power.

Great Britain's air force and, to a lesser extent, her ground and sea forces were largely pinned down to the defense of her home country.

A proposal attached to the accord calls for a legally binding treaty to be pinned down by the end of next year.

It was bad enough for the trap to be biting his foot, but to have his neck pinned down that way was too much.

Most of his Republican colleagues, however, prefer not to be pinned down.

Proponents of intelligent-designtheory frequently decline to be pinned down on these points.

He refused to be pinned down on the question.

Large numbers of the enemy's main force were at last pinned down.

The Babel of languages keeps workers pinned down in their own country.

She said she became a butterfly pinned down and singing away in Movieland.

But the administration has resisted being pinned down on concrete deficit reduction.

Only by creating our own thing we have the discourse power and would not be pinned down.

Just pinned down the location of a trapped two-year-old and dispatched a team to attempt a rescue.

Taliban fire kept the Americans pinned down and exposed, said an Afghan official briefed on the incident.

And in the meantime, Bean could only wait, pinned down by his protectors.

The sluggish demands from the end users, especially the logistic and transport sections, pinned down the desires to replenish the inventory.

Usually the Shinto god of the earth keeps the brute's head pinned down with a granite keystone.

Many cards left there paid tribute to those lost. One, pinned down by a cherub statuette and two single flowers, read simply: "Why? "

He was pinned down by his attackers.

The crimes committed by the Dalai Clique are irrefutable and pinned down by ironclad evidence.

I've got a good nose-once I'm on the trail, I don't leave it-not till I've pinned down my quarry.

His body was pinned down by such huge concrete slabs that doctors had to amputate a part of one leg to free him.

The lumberman was pinned down to the ground under a heavy tree.

it gives the impression that an elusive aspect of behaviour can be pinned down.

In spite of the ghostly evidence, pieces of dark matter have yet to be pinned down by researchers.

What happens at 44? Lots of things, but none that can be pinned down as the root cause of unhappiness.

All great leaders have a quality which cannot be exactly pinned down.

All great stars have a quality which cannot be exactly pinned down.

But her lower body was still pinned down by heavy bricks.

We were pinned down by enemy fire .

and why on earth, pinned down by this star's pin?

He is pinned down by the demonstrators.

As a result, the patrol was pinned down for hours.

John's leg was pinned down under the car after the accident.

One thing he doesn't like is being pinned down.

Now, the reson we're pinned down, general, because we can't get air support!

And what type did you have me pinned down for exactly?

For summer, his camellia-fresh pastel suits pinned down the ladylike mood to perfection;

The consequence is that Oliver is pinned down to his breakfast when he is ranging the meadows after botanical phenomena of all kinds