pinion
verbEtymology From Middle English pynyon, from Old French pignon, from Latin penna (“feather”).
1
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.1577, Konrad Heresbach, translated by Barnabe Googe, Foure Bookes of Husbandrie, book iv (1586), page 169:
- 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.1641–2, Henry Best (author), Donald Woodward (editor), The Farming and Memorandum Books of Henry Best of Elmswell, 1642: With a Glossary and Linguistic Commentary by Peter McClure, Oxford University Press/British Academy (1984) (10) (13), page 115
4 more examples
- The Swanners gette up the younge swannes about midsummer [24 June] and footemarke them for the owners, and then doe they allsoe pinnion them, cuttinge a joynte of theire right winges, and then att Michaellmasse [29 Sept.] doe they bringe them hoame, or else bringe hoame some, and leave the rest att some of the mills and wee sende for them.ibidem, page 129
- Suppoſe, thou Fortune could to tameneſs bring, / And clip or pinion her wing; / Suppoſe thou could’ſt on Fate ſo far prevail / As not to cut off thy Entail.1665–1667, Abraham Cowley, The Works of Mʳ Abraham Cowley (fifth edition, 1678), “Several Diſcourſes by way of Eſſays, in Verſe and Proſe”, essay 9: ‘The ſhortneſs of Life and uncertainty of Riches’, closing verses, verse 3 (page 138)
- The two old ducks…being pinioned, could not fly away.1727, Peter Longueville, Philip Quarll, published 1816, page 67:
- They…should have been pinioned at the first joint of the wing.1849, Daniel Jay Browne, The American Poultry Yard, published 1855, page 242:
2
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. […]”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Fate of the Artemis”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
- 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.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 168:
2 more examples
- Nash pinioned his arms behind while Boland seized a long cabbage stump which was lying in the gutter.1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, page 80:
- Both my arms are pinioned from behind by the Director of Comp., who wrestles me roughly down, on me with all his weight. I taste floor.1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 12:
3
Figuratively To restrain; to limit.
Transferred sense
- 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.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- 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.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IX, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:
1 more example
- I am pinioned by a chain of reasoning! Why else do his four friends conspire to conceal […]1999: Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, Sleepy Hollow, scene 14
- Derived terms
- pinioned, pinioner, pinioning
- Related terms
- Lemmer's pinion, nameless pinion, pale pinion, tawny pinion