From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpin something on somebody/something phrasal verb1 BLAMEto blame someone for something, often unfairly Don’t try to pin the blame on me! They’re trying to pin the murder on the boyfriend.2 pin your hopes/faith on something/somebodyHOPE to hope that something will happen or someone will help you, because all your plans depend on this Chris is pinning his hopes on getting into Yale. → pin→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
pin on • The instant best team in baseball, because there is nobody else to pin it on.• He is pinning some hope on a cabinet reshuffle.• Treacy is pinning his hopes on Derry again falling victim to a goal famine of crisis proportions.• Geller is pinning primary hopes on getting the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal on a procedural point.• These were the kind of people I had pinned up on my bedroom wall, and here I was meeting them.• The person who lost the most weight the week before pinned cardboard pigs on the gainers.• The pin was on the right at the back of a bunker and I decided on the 7-iron.• You can pin it on the wall.pin the blame on• And how would it be possible, in any event, to pin the blame on an individual?• Many observers pin the blame on the army, whose all-powerful generals are seeing their grip weaken.• In so doing, he pins the blame on the symptoms of our present stasis, not its causes.pin your hopes/faith on something/somebody• Ministers are pinning their hopes on a big spending Christmas this year to give the High Street and struggling businesses a boost.• Stores, pinning their hopes on a brighter Christmas, were cheerful.• This year it is pinning its hopes on an 8% uplift in passenger growth to around the 82m mark.• Treacy is pinning his hopes on Derry again falling victim to a goal famine of crisis proportions.• Duregar pinned his hopes on Dwarven determination to keep the army safe.• Those who pin their hopes on highly specified, short range solutions may or may not get it right.• He seems to pin his hopes on it. 