pinion

[pin-yuh n]

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noun

Machinery.

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

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

[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

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

Related Words for pinion

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

Examples from the Web for pinion

Historical Examples of pinion

It is only a short essay, just to try the strength of my Muse's pinion in that way.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Take your kerchief, Kenneth, and pinion his wrists behind him.
The Tavern Knight
Rafael Sabatini
In the latter case, the small one is the pinion, and the larger one the spur wheel.
Practical Mechanics for Boys
J. S. Zerbe
Now a spur gear, as well as a pinion, has three diameters; one measurep.
Practical Mechanics for Boys
J. S. Zerbe
The father throws the pinion into the fire, and the eagle appears.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Morris Jastrow

British Dictionary definitions for pinion

pinion

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

pinion

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

n.1

"wing joint, segment of a bird's wing," mid-15c., from Old French pignon "wing-feather, wing, pinion" (c.1400), from Vulgar Latin *pinnionem (nominative *pinnio), augmentative of Latin pinna "wing" (see pin (n.)).

n.2

"small wheel with teeth to gear with a larger one" (as in rack and pinion), 1650s, from French pignon "pinion" (16c.), literally "gable," from Old French pignon "pointed gable, summit," from Vulgar Latin *pinnionem, augmentative of Latin pinna "battlement, pinnacle" (see pin (n.)).

"disable by binding the arms," 1550s, older in English than literal sense "cut or bind the pinions (of a bird's wing) to prevent flying" (1570s); from pinion (n.1). Related: Pinioned.