pinion

¹

[ pin-yuhn ]

noun

1. 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.
2. Metalworking. a gear driving a roll in a rolling mill.

pinion

²

[ pin-yuhn ]

noun

1. the distal or terminal segment of the wing of a bird consisting of the carpus, metacarpus, and phalanges.
2. a feather.
3. the flight feathers collectively.
4. Chiefly Literary. the wing of a bird.

verb (used with object)

1. to cut off the pinion of (a wing) or bind (the wings), as in order to prevent a bird from flying.
2. to disable or restrain (a bird) in such a manner.
3. to bind (a person's arms or hands) so they cannot be used.
4. to disable (someone) in such a manner; shackle.
5. to bind or hold fast, as to a thing:

   to be pinioned to one's bad habits.

pinion

¹

/ ˈpɪnjən /

noun

1. poetic.
   a bird's wing
2. the part of a bird's wing including the flight feathers

verb

1. to hold or bind (the arms) of (a person) so as to restrain or immobilize him
2. to confine or shackle
3. to make (a bird) incapable of flight by removing that part of (the wing) from which the flight feathers grow

pinion

²

/ ˈpɪnjən /

noun

1. a cogwheel that engages with a larger wheel or rack, which it drives or by which it is driven

Other Words From

• pinion·less adjective
• pinion·like adjective

Word History and Origins

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”; 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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of pinion¹

C15: from Old French pignon wing, from Latin pinna wing

Origin of pinion²

C17: from French pignon cogwheel, from Old French peigne comb, from Latin pecten comb; see pecten

Example Sentences

There is only one substantial object in the show, a set of wooden stocks for pinioning the legs of multiple enslaved people.

From Washington Post

LeVisqueux dumped the contents of his knapsack on the floor: a rope, some pinions, a pair of pulleys, and a stack of nylon tote bags with drawstring tops.

From Literature

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

The French he translated as “my heart is full of your image”; the Italian, as something like “t’ward thee my thought unfurls its pinions.”

From New York Times

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

Related Words

• arm
• branch
• extremity
• leg
• stem
• wheel
• wing