▪ I. ‖ pinna2
Pl. -æ (formerly also -as).
[mod.L. uses of L. pinna = penna, in senses feather, wing, fin.]
1. Anat. The ‘wing’ of the ear, the broad upper part of the external ear; also applied to the whole external ear. (Cf. concha 4 a.)
| [1693 Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Pinna Auris, the upper and broader part of the Ear, called the Wing.] 1840 G. V. Ellis Anat. 194 The nerve..gives branches to supply the anterior part of the tragus and the pinna above the meatus. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. ix. (1873) 396 The external ear, or pinna, may be entirely wanting, as in the whales and crocodiles. |
b. Each lateral cartilage of the nose; = ala 1.
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iii. x. 150 The lateral..parts are termed Pterugia Alæ, Pinnæ. 1858 Mayne Expos. Lex., Pinna,..another term for the ala, or lower cartilage of either side of the nose. |
2. Bot. Each primary division (leaflet, petiole with leaflets, or lobe) of a pinnate or pinnatifid leaf, esp. in ferns.
| 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. (1794) 490 Common Polypody has pinnatifid fronds, the pinnas or lobes oblong. 1851 Moore Brit. Ferns & Allies (1864) 10 The fronds are sometimes divided down to the rachis,..when this occurs, the frond is said to be pinnate; and in this case, each of the distinct leaf-like divisions is called a pinna. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §4 (ed. 6) 104 Pinnæ is a convenient name for the partial petioles of a bipinnate leaf, taken together with the leaflets that belong to them. |
3. Zool. a. The fin of a fish; any fin-like structure, as the flipper of a seal or cetacean. b. A wing-like expansion or branch in certain polyps or other invertebrates. c. Entom. A small oblique ridge forming one of the parallel lines of a pinnate surface, as in the leg of a grasshopper: see pinnate a. 1 b.
| 1846 Patterson Zool. 21 If one of the wing-like expansions or pinnæ of the Virgularia is injured, the rest shrink as if all were hurt. 1858 Mayne Expos. Lex., Pinna... Ichthyol. a fin. 1861 J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent. 149 The pinnæ are very contractile, so as to vary in form from mere lobes or tubercles to long filiform fringes. |
▪ II. pinna
early spelling of piña, pine-apple.