Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (drugs) used of eyes in which the pupils are reduced, irrespective of the light available, to pinpricks.

[1909		I.L. Nascher Wretches of Povertyville 174: After he has become a confirmed fiend his appearance betrays him. The ashy complexion, tensely drawn skin over the forehead and the infallible sign – extremely small ‘pin-hole’ pupils].
1963		J. Blake letter 25 Aug. in Joint (1972) 215: He was obviously stoned out of his skull on H, eyes pinned and all.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 204: I tried one bag and it don’t even phase me. It don’t even pin my eyes.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 43: Solly: What’s wrong with your eyes? Kenny: What eyes? What? Solly: They’re pinned.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 201: Pinned eyes – maybe zoned on some kind of hop.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 30: Enough smack to keep fucking Kirby pinned right into the New Year.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] Your pupils are totally pinned. What have they got you on?
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 163: You’re more pinned than a Baby Doc voodoo doll.
2011		G. Knight Hood Rat 179: The see a white guy, Tony, whose pale blue eyes are pinned.
2013		J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 35: His pupils were pinned to the size of periods in a newspaper from the stuff we’d just shot.
2023		A. Parks To Die in June 184: ‘The both of them, eyes pinned – that give you a clue?’ ‘Ah. Smack?’.

2. (US campus, drugs) under the influence of a drug, usu. cocaine.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 147: The actor was so pinned, he rubbed his nose twenty-two times in a minute.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 201: They’ll be pinned on smack before we get the engine running!