Dictionary.com

pinion

1
[ pin-yuhn ]
/ ˈpɪn yən /
See synonyms for: pinion / pinioned / pinioning on Thesaurus.com

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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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

OTHER WORDS FROM pinion

pin·ion·less, adjectivepin·ion·like, adjective

Words nearby pinion

pinheaded, pinhole, pinhole camera, pinhole pupil, piniform, pinion, Piniós, pinite, pinitol, pin joint, pink

Definition for pinion (2 of 2)

pinion2
[ pin-yuhn ]
/ ˈpɪn yən /

noun

verb (used with object)

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

OTHER WORDS FROM pinion

un·pin·ioned, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to pinion

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

Example sentences from the Web for pinion

British Dictionary definitions for pinion (1 of 2)

pinion1
/ (ˈpɪnjən) /

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

British Dictionary definitions for pinion (2 of 2)

pinion2
/ (ˈpɪnjən) /

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