Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Pinion?

\Pin"ion\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A moth of the genus {Lithophane}, as {L. antennata}, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
\Pin"ion\, n. [OF. pignon a pen, F., gable, pinion (in sense 5); cf. Sp. pi[~n]on pinion; fr. L. pinna pinnacle, feather, wing. See {Pin} a peg, and cf. {Pen} a feather, {Pennat}, {Pennon}.] 1. A feather; a quill. --Shak. 2. A wing, literal or figurative. Swift on his sooty pinions flits the gnome. --Pope. 3. The joint of bird's wing most remote from the body. --Johnson. 4. A fetter for the arm. --Ainsworth. 5. (Mech.) A cogwheel with a small number of teeth, or leaves, adapted to engage with a larger wheel, or rack (see {Rack}); esp., such a wheel having its leaves formed of the substance of the arbor or spindle which is its axis. {Lantern pinion}. See under {Lantern}. {Pinion wire}, wire fluted longitudinally, for making the pinions of clocks and watches. It is formed by being drawn through holes of the shape required for the leaves or teeth of the pinions.
\Pin"ion\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pinioned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pinioning}.] 1. To bind or confine the wings of; to confine by binding the wings. --Bacon. 2. To disable by cutting off the pinion joint. --Johnson. 3. To disable or restrain, as a person, by binding the arms, esp. by binding the arms to the body. --Shak. Her elbows pinioned close upon her hips. --Cowper. 4. Hence, generally, to confine; to bind; to tie up. ``Pinioned up by formal rules of state.'' --Norris.