Definition of "ninepin" []

• A bowling game in which nine wooden pins are the target. (noun)
• A wooden pin used in the game of ninepins. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Now, this amiable duo of 19-year-olds, completed by Harley "Kicks" Alexander-Sule, are eyeing an ascent of the pop charts themselves, thanks in part to another ninepin effect – success by association."
• "Mr Sparkler, as to tip that gentleman over like a larger species of ninepin, and cause him to exhibit the soles of his shoes to the object of his dearest wishes: while the nobler portions of his anatomy struggled at the bottom of his boat in the arms of one of his men."
• "The old gentleman is merely shaken and has his internal feathers beaten up, the cushion is restored to its usual place beside him, and the old lady, perhaps with her cap adjusted and perhaps not, is planted in her chair again, ready to be bowled down like a ninepin."