Other forms: pivoted, pivoting, pivots
To pivot is to turn about a fixed central point. Pivot on one foot, the door pivots, pivot the argument.
One point stays and everything else moves, which is the image behind every figurative use: a business that pivots keeps its people and changes its product. In basketball, keeping the pivot foot planted is what stops a step becoming travelling. Note pivotal, meaning crucial — the point everything turns on.
1verbpivotTo turn about a fixed central point.
“The dancer pivoted on one foot and spun round to face the audience.”
2nounfixedThe fixed point something turns on.
“The heavy gate swings on a metal pivot set into the wall.”
pivot is a turning point.
Old French pivot meant a hinge pin. Its own origin is uncertain.
Old French
pivot — hinge pin, pivot
Middle English
pevet
English, today
pivot
From Middle English pevet, pivot, from Old French pivot (“hinge pin, pivot”) (12th c.), possibly from pūgiō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA