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definitions

pinion

1
[pin-yuh n]
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noun

Machinery.
  1. a gear with a small number of teeth, especially one engaging with a rack or larger gear.
  2. a shaft or spindle cut with teeth engaging with a gear.
Metalworking. a gear driving a roll in a rolling mill.

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RELATED WORDS

wheel, leg, extremity, stem, arm, branch, wing, embargo, restriction, constraint, prohibition, reduction, limit, ban, curb, prong, plume, fringe, fasten, fix

Nearby words

  1. pinheaded,
  2. pinhole,
  3. pinhole camera,
  4. pinhole pupil,
  5. piniform,
  6. pinite,
  7. pinitol,
  8. piniós,
  9. pink,
  10. pink bollworm

Origin of pinion

1
1650–60; < French pignon cogwheel, Middle French peignon, derivative of peigne comb, variant of pigne < Latin pectin- (stem of pecten) comb; see pecten
Related formspin·ion·less, adjectivepin·ion·like, adjective

pinion

2
[pin-yuh n]

noun

the distal or terminal segment of the wing of a bird consisting of the carpus, metacarpus, and phalanges.
the wing of a bird.
a feather.
the flight feathers collectively.

verb (used with object)

to cut off the pinion of (a wing) or bind (the wings), as in order to prevent a bird from flying.
to disable or restrain (a bird) in such a manner.
to bind (a person's arms or hands) so they cannot be used.
to disable (someone) in such a manner; shackle.
to bind or hold fast, as to a thing: to be pinioned to one's bad habits.

Origin of pinion

2
1400–50; late Middle English pynyon < Middle French pignon wing, pinion < Vulgar Latin *pinniōn (stem of pinniō), derivative of Latin pinna feather, wing, fin
Related formsun·pin·ioned, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pinion

British Dictionary definitions for pinion

pinion

1

noun

mainly poetic a bird's wing
the part of a bird's wing including the flight feathers

verb (tr)

to hold or bind (the arms) of (a person) so as to restrain or immobilize him
to confine or shackle
to make (a bird) incapable of flight by removing that part of (the wing) from which the flight feathers grow

Word Origin for pinion

C15: from Old French pignon wing, from Latin pinna wing

noun

a cogwheel that engages with a larger wheel or rack, which it drives or by which it is driven

Word Origin for pinion

C17: from French pignon cogwheel, from Old French peigne comb, from Latin pecten comb; see pecten
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for pinion
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper