pinion
1 Americannoun
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Machinery.
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a gear with a small number of teeth, especially one engaging with a rack or larger gear.
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a shaft or spindle cut with teeth engaging with a gear.
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Metalworking. a gear driving a roll in a rolling mill.
noun
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the distal or terminal segment of the wing of a bird consisting of the carpus, metacarpus, and phalanges.
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a feather.
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the flight feathers collectively.
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Chiefly Literary. the wing of a bird.
verb (used with object)
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pinions,
present (3rd person singular)
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pinioned,
past participle, past
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pinioning
present participle
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to cut off the pinion of (a wing) or bind (the wings), as in order to prevent a bird from flying.
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to disable or restrain (a bird) in such a manner.
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to bind (a person's arms or hands) so they cannot be used.
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to disable (someone) in such a manner; shackle.
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to bind or hold fast, as to a thing.
to be pinioned to one's bad habits.
noun
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poetic a bird's wing
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the part of a bird's wing including the flight feathers
verb
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to hold or bind (the arms) of (a person) so as to restrain or immobilize him
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to confine or shackle
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to make (a bird) incapable of flight by removing that part of (the wing) from which the flight feathers grow
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pinionsimple
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pinionssimple
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have pinionedperfect
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has pinionedperfect
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am pinioningprogressive
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are pinioningprogressive
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is pinioningprogressive
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have been pinioningperfect progressive
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has been pinioningperfect progressive
Past
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pinionedsimple
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had pinionedperfect
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was pinioningprogressive
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were pinioningprogressive
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had been pinioningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pinion1
First recorded in 1650–60; from French pignon “cogwheel,” Middle French peignon, derivative of peigne “comb,” variant of pigne, from Latin pectin- (stem of pecten ) “comb”; see pecten
Origin of pinion2
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English pinion, pinoun, from Middle French, Old French penon, pignon “wing, pinion,” from Vulgar Latin pinniōn- (unattested), stem of pinniō, derivative of Latin pinna “feather, wing, fin”
Explanation
Many cars use rack-and-pinion steering, in which the steering wheel turns a small-toothed pinion gear, which engages the larger rack that turns the car's wheels. Pinions make steering easy and smooth. This is true for cars as well for birds — pinion can also refer to a bird's wing or a large wing feather. Pinion comes to English through Old French, but the word ultimately derives from Latin pinna, meant both "feather" and "battlement."
Vocabulary lists containing pinion
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But in hot, drought-stricken mixed forests, bark beetles first land on nearby limber and pinion pines, generating new broods that can attack bristlecones, overwhelming their defense systems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2022
Engineering-wise, the Next Gen car includes an independent rear suspension and rack and pinion steering that’s more reactive to slight driver adjustments.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2022
There are a few attempts to pinion Vera, but something in the character keeps sliding out and away.
From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2019
WHY: The steering coupling can strip on the rack and pinion assembly and result in a loss of steering control and crash hazard.
From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2016
Some eight of those nearby had been jerking their bills, which he had imitated as if the act were catching, and now, with these same eight, he found himself on pinion in the horizontal air.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
They are large, high-value parts with dozens of components, including ring gears and pinions, specifically made for GM’s trucks—and thus not easily substituted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Those presidents by and large left the architectural pinions of the institution intact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2019
“I began to feel an invincible distaste for the same; & a longing to plume my pinions for a flight,” he explained.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 22, 2019
Creating life from pinions and pivots and tiny screws may be the easy part.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2016
Wart sat down again on the floor, and Archimedes resumed his toilet, pulling his pinions and tail feathers through his beak to smooth the barbs together.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
She had her wings pinioned by previous owners, meaning she is unable to fly.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
Controversial newsmakers—Monica Lewinsky, Tonya Harding, Lorena Bobbitt among them—had the term pinioned to them like a scarlet letter, stripping away their accomplishments and leaving only scorned husks of their real selves.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2025
He is pinioned between what he wants to do as a toddler and what he cannot do as a politician.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2017
But in late 2016, many grilles were removed after women, pinioned in back by metal grids, reported feeling confined.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 8, 2017
“Why I ever wanted to work there I’ll never know,” Miss Trixie said angrily from among the pillows where Mrs. Levy had her pinioned.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
A plan called "Sea-sitter" envisioned pinioning minimissiles on a fleet of roving seaplanes.
From Time Magazine Archive
Christopher loved his father, but it felt like being nailed down, pinioning them both to the ground.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Matthias had relieved the sparrow of her brick hobble, pinioning her wings, make the going easier.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Smith dropped the candle to defend himself, but he did not strike back; wrapping the madman in a pinioning grip, he held him helpless until the vengeful ecstasy had exhausted itself.
From The Real Man by Francis Lynde
Elvesdon bent down to help her, and as he did so he was suddenly seized from behind by several powerful hands, most effectively pinioning him.
From The White Hand and the Black A Story of the Natal Rising by Bertram Mitford
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
