Library / English Dictionary

PINION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wing of a bird

Synonyms:

pennon; pinion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("pinion" is a kind of...):

wing (a movable organ for flying (one of a pair))

Holonyms ("pinion" is a part of...):

bird (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings)

Derivation:

pinion (cut the wings off (of birds))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird

Synonyms:

flight feather; pinion; quill; quill feather

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("pinion" is a kind of...):

feather; plumage; plume (the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pinion"):

primary; primary feather; primary quill (one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer edge of a bird's wing)

tail feather (feather growing from the tail (uropygium) of a bird)

Holonyms ("pinion" is a part of...):

wing (a movable organ for flying (one of a pair))

Derivation:

pinion (cut the wings off (of birds))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A gear with a small number of teeth designed to mesh with a larger wheel or rack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pinion" is a kind of...):

cogwheel; gear; gear wheel; geared wheel (a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pinion"):

lantern pinion; lantern wheel (a small pinion having cylindrical bars instead of teeth, used chiefly in inexpensive clocks)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut the wings off (of birds)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "pinion" is one way to...):

disable; disenable; incapacitate (make unable to perform a certain action)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pinion (wing of a bird)

pinion (any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bind the arms of

Synonyms:

pinion; shackle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pinion" is one way to...):

confine; constrain; hold; restrain (to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They want to pinion the prisoners

Credits