pinion2
- 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.
- 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 pinion2
Examples from the Web for pinioned
Contemporary Examples
Its horn blared ceaselessly, jammed by the dead body of the driver, Henri Paul, pinioned on the steering column by the impact.
Historical Examples
He felt the paper thrust into his hands, reached for her wrists, and pinioned them.
The Leopard WomanStewart Edward White
Unarmed and taken at a vantage, I was struck down and pinioned in a moment.
Micah ClarkeArthur Conan Doyle
Responsive to that gesture, Gonzaga faced the pinioned captain truculently.
Love-at-ArmsRaphael Sabatini
The same tentacle, assisted by a new one, pinioned his shoulders.
Acid BathVaseleos Garson
Then as it descended between his legs he found one of them pinioned.
The PlundererRoy Norton
pinion1
- 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
Word Origin
pinion2
- a cogwheel that engages with a larger wheel or rack, which it drives or by which it is driven
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for pinioned
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.)).
pinion
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.)).
pinion
v.
"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.