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What is the difference between pinion and mail?

pinion | mail |

As nouns the difference between pinion and mail

is that pinion is a wing or pinion can be the smallest gear in a gear drive train while mail is or mail can be (uncountable) armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together or mail can be (chiefly|scotland) a monetary payment or tribute.

As verbs the difference between pinion and mail

is that pinion is to remove the joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body to prevent the bird from flying while mail is to send (a letter, parcel, etc) through the mail or mail can be to arm with mail.

pinion

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) pignon, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A wing.
  • * , II.v
    • Therefore do nimble-pinion' d doves draw Love, / And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Swift on his sooty pinions flits the gnome.
  • * 1839 ,
    • Never seraph spread a pinion / Over fabric half so fair.
  • The joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body.
    • (Johnson)
  • Any of the outermost primary feathers on a bird's wing.
  • * , III.xii
    • An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither / He sends so poor a pinion of his wing
  • A moth of the genus Lithophane .
  • (obsolete) A fetter for the arm.
    • (Ainsworth)

    Verb

    (en verb) :; (lb)
  • (lb) To cut off the pinion of a bird’s wing, or otherwise disable or bind its wings, in order to prevent it from flying.
  • * 1577 , (Barnabe Googe) (translator), (Konrad Heresbach) (author), Foure Bookes of Husbandrie , book iv (1586), page 169:
    • They that meane to fatte Pigions…some…do softly tie their Legges:…some vse onely to pinion them.
  • * 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), ISBN 0197260292 (10), ISBN 9780197260296 (13), page 115:
    • 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.
  • * ibidem , page 129:
    • 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.
  • * 1665–7 , (Abraham Cowley), The Works of Mr Abraham Cowley (fifth edition, 1678), “Several Di?cour?es by way of E??ays, in Ver?e and Pro?e”, essay 9: ‘The ?hortne?s of Life and uncertainty of Riches’, closing verses, verse 3 ( page 138):
    • Suppo?e, thou Fortune could to tamene?s bring, // And clip or pinion her wing; // Suppo?e thou could’?t on Fate ?o far prevail // As not to cut off thy Entail.
  • * 1727 , Peter Longueville, Philip Quarll (1816), page 67:
    • The two old ducks…being pinioned , could not fly away.
  • * 1849 , Daniel Jay Browne, The American Poultry Yard (1855), page 242:
    • They…should have been pinioned at the first joint of the wing.
  • (lb) To bind the arms of any one, so as to deprive him of their use; to disable by so binding; to shackle.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] 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. […]”}}
  • * 1916 , , Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, page 80
    • Nash pinioned his arms behind while Boland seized a long cabbage stump which was lying in the gutter.
  • #
  • #* , V.ii
  • 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.
  • #* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IX
  • 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.
  • # To bind fast to something, or together.
    • Derived terms
    * * *
    References
    * “ Pinion, v.'']” listed on page 883/2–3 of volume VII (O–P, ed. , 1908) of ''[[w:Oxford English Dictionary, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles] (1st ed.)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) pignon.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The smallest gear in a gear drive train.
  • * 1844 ,
    • A certain period elapses, and some unseen mysterious principle again sets in motion the magic pinions and the wizard wheels.
    Derived terms
    * rack and pinion English terms with transferred senses

    mail

    English

    (wikipedia mail)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) male, (etyl) . Compare Dutch maal.

    Noun

  • *1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Courte :
  • *:What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale; / A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male !
  • A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.
  • The material conveyed by the postal service.
  • :
  • *1823 , The stranger in Liverpool; or, An historical and descriptive view of the town of Liverpool and its environs] , Seventh Edition, T. Kaye, [http://books.google.com/books?id=FsQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA96 page 96,
  • *:The following are the hours at which the letter-box of this office is closed for making up the several mails', and the hours at which each ' mail is despatched: ¶
  • *1887 , John Houston Merrill (editor), The American and English Encyclopædia of Law] , Volume I, Edward Thompson, [http://books.google.com/books?id=75ENAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA121 p.121,
    • If he retains the account, and permits several mails to pass without objecting to it, he will be held to have admitted its correctness.
  • *
  • *:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
  • (lb) A stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.
  • The postal service or system in general.
  • :
  • (lb) Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages.
  • A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.
  • :(Sir Walter Scott)

    • Usage notes

    In the United States, mails (plural) can mean "the postal system".
    Synonyms
    * (postal system) post (UK, Ireland, other dialects?)
    Derived terms
    {{der3, accountable mail , air mail , carry the mail , chain mail , e-mail , email , electronic mail , fan mail , hate mail , junk mail , mailbag , mail boat , mail bomb , mailbox , mail call , mail carrier , mail fraud , mailman , mailmerge , mail order , mail plane , mail relay , mailroom , mail slot , mail stop , mail train , mail truck , mails , snail mail , surface mail , voice mail , vote-by-mail , webmail}}

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.
  • (label) To send by electronic mail.
    • Please mail me the spreadsheet by the end of the day.
  • * 1983 , "Donn Seeley", Source for 'Grab' '' (on newsgroup ''net.unix-wizards )
    • There has been a crackdown on non-ARPA use of a local ARPA gateway, so I am reluctant to attempt to mail the file to ARPA sites.
  • * 1998 , "Michael Tomsett", Re: Multiple postings?'' (on newsgroup ''alt.music.manics )
    • Since .mp3's are so big (well for me with a 33.6kp/s connection they are anyway) maybe you should offer on your site to mail the file to people who want it, and have them request it, thus saving your web space, your upload time and their download time
  • * 2003 , "Chrissy", Re: Send mail with attachment'' (on newsgroup ''microsoft.public.excel.programming )
    • If you mail an attachment from one mail client then it does not matter if the receiver uses a different mail client. The mail you send should be able to be read from their mail client.
  • (label) To contact (a person) by electronic mail.
    • I need to mail my tutor about the deadline.
  • * 2000 , "Carlton Alton Deltree", Whoever did this sucks...'' (on newsgroup ''alt.comp.virus )
    • I was horrified but my data was OK. Then, it saw it open my e-mail package and start to mail my friends. I turned the power off.
  • * 2002 , Jessica Mann, The voice from the grave , page 189:
    • 'Yes, at Quantico. She was so excited by it, she sent all those emails, you remember I told you about it -' 'Yes, she mailed me from there too.'
  • * 2011 , Rose Budworth-Levine, Intimate Encounters , page 41:
    • He mailed me and said he had managed to hack into my email accounts.
    Synonyms
    * (send through the mail) post
    Derived terms
    {{der3, mailer , mailing}}

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * maille

    Noun

    (-)
  • (label) Armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together.
  • (label) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
  • Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
  • * (rfdate) John Gay:
    • We strip the lobster of his scarlet mail .
  • A spot on a bird's feather; by extension, a spotted feather.
  • * 1653 , Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler :
    • the moorish-fly; made with the body of duskish wool; and the wings made of the blackish mail of the drake
    Derived terms
    {{der3, chain mail , plate mail , scale mail , mailed , mailler}}

    Related terms

    * mailed

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To arm with mail.
  • (label) To pinion.

    • Etymology 3

    (etyl) mal, male from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * maile * maill * maille

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A monetary payment or tribute.
  • Rent.
  • Tax.
    • Derived terms
    {{der3, blackmail , mails and duties}}

    Anagrams

    * ----