1. [n]  wing of a bird
2. [n]  any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird
3. [n]  a gear with a small number of teeth designed to mesh with a larger wheel or rack
4. [v]  cut the wings off (of birds)
5. [v]  bind the arms of

Pinion
Preacher and Sister alternate narrating this book-length, historically set poem about the burden of inheriting a family homestead in the American South of the 1920s.

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1. \Pin"ion\, n. (Zo["o]l.)
   A moth of the genus {Lithophane}, as {L. antennata}, whose
   larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
   

2. \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.
   2. A wing, literal or figurative.
            Swift on his sooty pinions flits the gnome. --Pope.
   3. The joint of bird's wing most remote from the body.
      --Johnson.
   4. A fetter for the arm. --Ainsworth.
   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.
   {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.
   

3. \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.
   2. To disable by cutting off the pinion joint. --Johnson.
   3. To disable or restrain, as a person, by binding the arms,
      esp. by binding the arms to the body. --Shak.
            Her elbows pinioned close upon her hips. --Cowper.
   4. Hence, generally, to confine; to bind; to tie up.
      ``Pinioned up by formal rules of state.'' --Norris.