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"Pinch" doesn't see much use these days. Too bad, it was pretty versatile.
If you were in a bit of trouble, you were in a pinch.
If you got pinched, you were arrested.
Certain items would "do in a pinch".
Someone could put the pinch on you for money (same as putting the bite on someone but less commonly used).
If you pinched something, that meant that you stole it. (The English would say that you "nicked" it.)
Information from an unreliable source was taken with a pinch (or grain) of salt.
All those usages were indeed more common in my earlier days. I still frequently hear (and often use myself) “it’ll do in a pinch.”
It’s akin to “tight,” as in finding oneself “in a tight spot.” But not at all like “tight” to mean “orderly” or “well put together,” as in “a tight ship.”