pinion

A wing.

Therefore do nimble Pinion'd Doues draw Loue, And therefore hath the wind-ſwift Cupid wings:

See o'er the Alps his tow'ring Pinions ſoar, Where never Engliſh Poet reach'd before.

The joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body.

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,

A moth of the genus Lithophane.

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.

When they are aboute fortnights olde (for they must bee driven noe longer) yow must watch where the henne useth to sitte on nights, and come when it beginneth to bee darke and throwe somethinge over the henne as shee broodeth them, then take and clippe every of theire right wings. Then when they are aboute moneths old, yow must come after the same manner and pinnion or cutte a joynte of every of theire right winges.

To bind the arms of someone, so as to deprive him of their use; to disable by so binding.

“[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”

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.

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.

I was suddenly seized from behind and thrown to earth. As I fell, a warm body fell on top of me, and hands grasped my arms and legs. When I could look up, I saw a number of giant fingers pinioning me down, while others stood about surveying me.

The smallest gear in a gear train.

1844, Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial A certain period elapses, and some unseen mysterious principle again sets in motion the magic pinions and the wizard wheels.

The usual front sprocket has teeth, which which mesh into a pinion on a shaft that carries power to the wheel through a pair of pinions at the rear.