pinion

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɪnjən/

• Audio (US)

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Etymology 1

From Old French pignon, from Latin penna (“feather”).

Noun

pinion (plural pinions)

1. A wing.
   • 1597, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, II.v

     Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw Love, / And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.

   • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

     Never seraph spread a pinion / Over fabric half so fair.

2. The joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body
3. The outermost primary feathers on a bird's wing.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, III.xii

     An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither / He sends so poor a pinion of his wing ...

Verb

pinion (third-person singular simple present pinions, present participle pinioning, simple past and past participle pinioned)

1. To remove the joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body to prevent the bird from flying.
2. To restrain by binding or holding the arms.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, V.ii

     Know, sir that I / Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court, / Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye / Of dull Octavia.

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, The Fate of the Artemis^[1]:

     “[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”

   • 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, page 80

     Nash pinioned his arms behind while Boland seized a long cabbage stump which was lying in the gutter.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IX

     I was suddenly seized from behind and thrown to earth. As I fell, a warm body fell on top of me, and hands grasped my arms and legs. When I could look up, I saw a number of giant fingers pinioning me down, while others stood about surveying me.

Translations

to remove the joint of a bird's wing

• Russian: подрезать крылья (podrezátʼ krýlʼja)n

to restrain by binding or holding the arms

• Russian: связывать руки (svjázyvatʼ rúki)n

Etymology 2

From French pignon.

Noun

pinion (plural pinions)

1. The smallest gear in a gear drive train.
   • 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial

     A certain period elapses, and some unseen mysterious principle again sets in motion the magic pinions and the wizard wheels.

Translations

gear in a gear drive train

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: باڵبه‌ست (ku) (balbest)

• Norwegian (Bokmål): tanndrev (no) n, tannhjulsdrev (no) n, spisshjul (no) n
• Russian: шестерня (ru) f (šesternja)

Derived terms

• rack and pinion