Join free

pinion

English · Română · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

pinion¹

  • /ˈpɪnjən/

Sounds like piñon · Rhymes with -ɪnjən

Where it comes from

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

noun pinions

  1. A wing. Therefore do nimble Pinion'd Doues draw Loue, And therefore hath the wind-ſwift Cupid wings:
  2. The joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body.
  3. Any of the outermost primary feathers on a bird's wing. An argument that he is pluckt, when hither / He ſends ſo poore a Pinnion of his Wing,
  4. A moth of the genus Lithophane.

verb pinions · pinioning · pinioned

  1. transitive To cut off the pinion of a bird’s wing, or otherwise disable or bind its wings, in order to prevent it from flying. They that meane to fatte Pigions…some…do softly tie their Legges:…some vse onely to pinion them.
  2. transitive To bind the arms of someone, so as to deprive him of their use; to disable by so binding. “[…] 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

    Similar: shackle

  3. figuratively, transitive To restrain; to limit. 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.

pinion²

  • /ˈpɪnjən/

Sounds like piñon · Rhymes with -ɪnjən

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French pignon.

noun pinions

  1. transitive The smallest gear in a gear 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.

Pinion³

proper noun Pinions

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

verb cut off the pinion of a bird’s wing, or otherwise disable or bind its wings

Русскийподрезать крылья podrezatʹ krylʹja

verb bind the arms of someone

Deutschfesseln
Русскийсвя́зывать руки svjázyvatʹ ruki

noun gear in a gear drive train

Españolpiñón
DeutschRitzel
Русскийшестерня́ šesternjá

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"pinion." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pinion. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pinion. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pinion

Chicago

"pinion." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pinion.

BibTeX
@misc{pinion_2026,
  title = {pinion},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pinion},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}