Pinion
['pɪnjən]
Definition
(noun.) a gear with a small number of teeth designed to mesh with a larger wheel or rack.
(verb.) cut the wings off (of birds).
(verb.) bind the arms of.
Checker: Maryann--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
(n.) A feather; a quill.
(n.) A wing, literal or figurative.
(n.) The joint of bird's wing most remote from the body.
(n.) A fetter for the arm.
(n.) 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.
(v. t.) To bind or confine the wings of; to confine by binding the wings.
(v. t.) To disable by cutting off the pinion joint.
(v. t.) To disable or restrain, as a person, by binding the arms, esp. by binding the arms to the body.
(v. t.) Hence, generally, to confine; to bind; to tie up.
Checker: Michelle
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Wing, pennon.[2]. Fetter (for the arms).
v. a. Restrain (by binding the arms), bind, fasten, shackle, fetter, chain.
Typed by Betsy
Definition
n. a wing: the joint of a wing most remote from the body of the bird: a small wheel with 'leaves' or teeth working into others.—v.t. to confine the wings of: to cut off the pinion: to confine by binding the arms.
Editor: Moll
Examples
- Now, my private 'pinion is, Lizy took der road; so I think we'd better take de straight one. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Returning now to the fourth pinion, we see that it also carries a wheel, which engages another little pinion, called the escape pinion. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Next to the center comes the third pinion and wheel, and then the fourth, which is the last wheel in the train which has regular gear teeth. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- This escape pinion also carries a wheel, but it is radically different in appearance, as well as in action, from any of the previously mentioned wheels. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Lord, the spring that ar gal's got in her an't common, I'm o' 'pinion. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- And my 'pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don't prove a alleybi, he'll be what the Italians call reg'larly flummoxed, and that's all about it. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Another form was that of Gompertz in England in 1821, who contrived a segmental rack connected with a frame over the front wheel and engaging a pinion on the wheel axle. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- When I was clear of the house, a black muffler was drawn tightly over my mouth from behind, and my arms were pinioned. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- And then a living mass of destruction sprang from the surrounding darkness full upon the creature that held me pinioned to the ground. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- He could not brush it off with his hands poor fellow, they being pinioned. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arm; and shrieked aloud for the beadle. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- It was like sitting in a vault strewn with dead bodies--the cap, the noose, the pinioned arms, the faces that he knew, even beneath that hideous veil. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Her young friend sat nervously twiddling her fingers in a pinioned attitude, as if she were trying to hide her elbows. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Why, no; only Joe Scott's wrists were a little galled with being pinioned too tightly behind his back. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- These arbor teeth are in all cases called, not wheels but pinions, and in watch trains the wheels always drive the pinions. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Now that I am arrived at its base, my pinions are furled, the mighty stairs are before me, and step by step I must ascend the wondrous fane-- Speak! Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The ole garden is open to you, and your airy pinions carry you through it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Typed by Judy