‖ Pinna1 Zool.
(ˈpɪnə)
[L. pinna, variant of pīna (Cic., Plin.), a. Gr. πῖνα (also πίννα, πίννη), in same sense.]
A genus of bivalve molluscs, having a large silky byssus or ‘beard’.
| c 1520 Andrew Noble Lyfe lxx, Pinna is a fisshe that layeth alwaye in the mudde,..& it is in a shell lyke a muscle. 1651 Raleigh's Ghost 113 The shelfish called Pinna is ever ingendred in muddy waters. 1759 B. Stillingfl. tr. Biberg's Econ. Nat. in Misc. Tracts (1762) 111 There is a very large shell-fish in the Mediterranean called the pinna,..furnished with very strong calcareous valves. 1851 Woodward Mollusca 11 The mussel and pinna spin a byssus. |
b. attrib., as pinna shell; pinna-guardian, rendering of Pinnoteres: see pinnothere; pinna-wool, the byssus of the pinna as a textile.
| 1854 Woodward Mollusca ii. 264 A little crab which nestles in the mantle and gills of the Pinna,..received the name of Pinna-guardian (Pinnoteres) from Aristotle. 1884 J. T. Bent in Macm. Mag. Oct. 427/1 Bright red pinna shells. 1890 Cent. Dict., Pinna wool. |