Etymology
From the disposable rows of pins used in sewing.
Noun
row of pins
- (idiomatic, dated, chiefly in the negative) An insignificant thing, a whit.
- Synonym: hill of beans
1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 109:He knew that big nations did not care a row of pins for small nations, but only used them as pawns, and he knew that the role of a pawn in a game is, too often, to be taken.
1963 October 14, John McFarland, Revenue Act of 1963: Hearings Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Eighty-Eighth Congress, Fifth Session, on H.R. 8363 […] , page 608:As far as the admissions tax is concerned, it doesn’t amount to a row of pins anyway.