pinion /ˈpɪnjən/noun 5verb 3forms 3 noun5 •The smallest gear in a gear train.A certain period elapses, and some unseen mysterious principle again sets in motion the magic pinions and the wizard wheels. — 1844 •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, — 1606 •A wing.Therefore do nimble Pinion'd Doues draw Loue, And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings: — 1591 •The joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body. •A moth of the genus Lithophane. verb3 •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. — 1577 •To bind the arms of someone, so as to deprive him of their use; to disable by so binding.Pinioning its extremities with the edge of the towel, she crushed off its offensive and defensive weapons with a splinter from the wall. The blowfly was her next victim, but an unexciting one. — 1907 •(figurative) 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. — 1606 formspinioned · pinioning · pinions
