English

Alternative forms

• sin-bin
• sinbin

Noun

sin bin ‎(plural sin bins)

1. (sports) An area where players are temporarily confined while suspended from play following an infringement of the rules of the game.
   • 1985, Nicholas Mosely, Accident, ISBN 0916583112, page 27,

     Tommy Parker had propped Sporting World against a waterjug. He said “I see Max de Woppa spent three minutes in the sin bin.”

   • 2005, Rachel K. Gibson, The Trouble With Valentine's Day, page 46,

     Rob received a minor penalty, and as he served out his three minutes kicking back in the sin bin, Chinook′s sniper, Pierre Dion, shot from the point.

   • 2012: Phil Gifford, Rivals: Sports Greatest Battles, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page,

     At the play-the-ball Tamati and Dowling started jostling each other, then punching. The referee sent them to the sin bin.

2. (figuratively) A place for transgressors, a limbo; a place of confinement or self-isolation after (or in order to avert) transgressions; a state of disgrace.
   • 2001, Kersti Seksel, Training Your Cat, page 33,

     Punishment can be positive or negative, but both decrease the chances of the behaviour recurring. Positive punishment adds something unpleasant: yelling at the cat, for example. Negative punishment removes something pleasant: your company, for example, by putting the cat in the sin bin (see Chapter 9).

   • 2004, Richard Giles, Creating Uncommon Worship: Transforming the Liturgy of the Eucharist, page 88,

     Where habitual offenders remain, we can be sure that any sin-bin will not be populated by members of any one racial group alone.

   • 2004, Allison James, Adrian James, Constructing Childhood: Theory, Policy and Social Practice, Palgrave MacMillan, 130,

     As the pupils who would be the occupants of the sin-bins would not be counted as having been excluded from schools - being simply rehoused within them - the Government′s policy to cut the number of permanent school exclusions would remain intact, while the complaints made by teachers could also be addressed.

   • 2004, John Campbell, Margaret Thatcher, Volume 2: The Iron Lady, page 214,

     She was obliged to leave him in the sin-bin for four years.

3. (US, Australia, colloquial) A panel van with a bed installed in the back.
   • 1972 September, What′s New: Rolling pad, Popular Science, page 70,

     There′s a shag rug on the floor, padding on walls and ceiling, and, for extra comfort, a 600-gallon water bed. The Sin Bin is made by Chinook Mobilodge.

   • 1978 March, Jim Elder, Camp/work conversion, Popular Mechanics, page 110,

     There is the shag-carpet “sin bin” with its fur upholstery, mahogany paneling, stained glass, color TV and chrome sidepipes.

   • 1986 January, A Family Affair, Popular Mechanics, page 86,

     Unlike the full-size Sin Bins of the ′70s, the new family vans are cute, comfortable and carlike.

Synonyms

• (area for confinement of players while suspended): penalty box
• (place for transgressors):
• (van installed with bed): **** truck, passion wagon

See also

• red card
• yellow card

Translations

Verb

sin bin ‎(third-person singular simple present sin bins, present participle sin binning, simple past and past participle sin binned)

1. (sports, usually in passive voice) to send a player off temporarily following an infringement of a rule in a game

Translations