Pinion is a verb that means to cut off the wing of a bird to prevent flight.
Dating back to the 17th century, our word of the day comes from the French word pignon (PEEN yone) which referred to the part of a bird’s wings that make flight possible. Pinion may still be used as a noun to refer to this part of the wing or it can be a verb that means to clip the wing to prevent a bird from flying.
Similarly, our word of the day may be used metaphorically to refer to shackling someone. For example:
As a kid in class, I hated not being permitted to use my calculator for math problems. It seemed the teacher was trying to pinion me in my quest for mathematical knowledge.
