pinion
1Machinery.
a gear with a small number of teeth, especially one engaging with a rack or larger gear.
a shaft or spindle cut with teeth engaging with a gear.
Metalworking. a gear driving a roll in a rolling mill.
Origin of pinion
1Other words from pinion
- pin·ion·less, adjective
- pin·ion·like, adjective
Words Nearby pinion
Other definitions for pinion (2 of 2)
the distal or terminal segment of the wing of a bird consisting of the carpus, metacarpus, and phalanges.
a feather.
the flight feathers collectively.
Chiefly Literary. the wing of a bird.
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
2Other words from pinion
- un·pin·ioned, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use pinion in a sentence
Rincon Mountain Wilderness skirts the boundary of Saguaro National Park with chimneys of towering rocks and hills spotted with pinions, all perfectly positioned to protect the park’s colossal cacti.
It is with our body as it is with a watch which indicates the hours, and which goes not if the spring or a pinion be broken.
Letters To Eugenia | Paul Henri Thiry HolbachThe foam and the fangs and the flowers,The raving and ravenous rage Of a poet as pinion'd in powersAs a condor confined in a cage!
The Book of Humorous Verse | VariousThe man kicked him ferociously in the breast before the attacker managed to pinion the legs in his arms.
Blow The Man Down | Holman DayClock-pinion; which may be used for either nicking, piecing, or squaring-off purposes.
Practical Mechanics for Boys | J. S. Zerbe
Then draw a vertical line (A) midway between the marks of the line 2, and this will be the center of the main pinion.
Practical Mechanics for Boys | J. S. Zerbe
British Dictionary definitions for pinion (1 of 2)
/ (ˈpɪnjən) /
mainly poetic a bird's wing
the part of a bird's wing including the flight feathers
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
Origin of pinion
1British Dictionary definitions for pinion (2 of 2)
/ (ˈpɪnjən) /
a cogwheel that engages with a larger wheel or rack, which it drives or by which it is driven
Origin of pinion
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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