pinion

[pin-yuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pinion ON THESAURUS.COM

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 pinioned

fasten, fix, affix, clasp, bind, hinder, prevent, inhibit, confine, detain, subdue, suppress, kill, deter, restrict, curb, hamper, govern, limit, constrain

Examples from the Web for pinioned

Contemporary Examples of pinioned

Its horn blared ceaselessly, jammed by the dead body of the driver, Henri Paul, pinioned on the steering column by the impact.
Tina Brown: No, Conspiracy Theorists, Princess Diana Was Not Murdered
Tina Brown
August 19, 2013

Historical Examples of pinioned

He felt the paper thrust into his hands, reached for her wrists, and pinioned them.
The Leopard Woman
Stewart Edward White
Unarmed and taken at a vantage, I was struck down and pinioned in a moment.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
Responsive to that gesture, Gonzaga faced the pinioned captain truculently.
Love-at-Arms
Raphael Sabatini
The same tentacle, assisted by a new one, pinioned his shoulders.
Acid Bath
Vaseleos Garson
Then as it descended between his legs he found one of them pinioned.
The Plunderer
Roy Norton

British Dictionary definitions for pinioned

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 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

"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.