[syn: pinion, shackle]
2. cut the wings off (of birds);
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pinion \Pin"ion\, n. (Zool.)
A moth of the genus Lithophane, as Lithophane antennata,
whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pinion \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.
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2. A wing, literal or figurative.
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Swift on his sooty pinions flits the gnome. --Pope.
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3. The joint of bird's wing most remote from the body.
--Johnson.
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4. A fetter for the arm. --Ainsworth.
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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.
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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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pinion \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.
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2. To disable by cutting off the pinion joint. --Johnson.
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3. To disable or restrain, as a person, by binding the arms,
esp. by binding the arms to the body. --Shak.
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Her elbows pinioned close upon her hips. --Cowper.
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4. Hence, generally, to confine; to bind; to tie up.
"Pinioned up by formal rules of state." --Norris.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
pinion
n 1: a gear with a small number of teeth designed to mesh with a
larger wheel or rack
2: any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird [syn:
flight feather, pinion, quill, quill feather]
3: wing of a bird [syn: pennon, pinion]
v 1: bind the arms of [syn: pinion, shackle]
2: cut the wings off (of birds)
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
70 Moby Thesaurus words for "pinion":
anchor, appendage, arm, bind, bough, branch, bridle, chain, crest,
enchain, entrammel, fasten, feather, fetter, gyve, hackle, hamper,
hand, handcuff, hobble, hog-tie, hopple, imp, joint, lash, leash,
leg, limb, link, lobe, lobule, make fast, manacle, member, moor,
offshoot, organ, panache, peg down, picket, pin down, plume,
plumule, put in irons, quill, ramification, restrain, rope, runner,
scapular, scion, secure, shackle, spray, sprig, spur, straitjacket,
strap, switch, tail, tendril, tether, tie, tie down, tie up,
topknot, trammel, tuft, twig, wing