hairpin

[hair-pin] /ˈhɛərˌpɪn/
noun
1.
a slender U -shaped piece of wire, shell, etc., used by women to fasten up the hair or hold a headdress.
adjective
2.
(of a road, curve in a road, etc.) sharply curved back, as in a U shape:
a hairpin turn.
Origin
1770-80; hair + pin
Examples from the web for hairpin
  • After a series of hairpin turns, the trees began to thin and the sky expanded.
  • At night bats flit through the gaps at the top of the wall, do hairpin turns in the air, and exit again without slowing.
British Dictionary definitions for hairpin

hairpin

/ˈhɛəˌpɪn/
noun
1.
a thin double-pronged pin used by women to fasten the hair
2.
(modifier) (esp of a bend in a road) curving very sharply
Word Origin and History for hairpin
n.

also hair-pin, 1788 (two words), from hair + 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 hairpin I am."