/pin"is/ , n.
1. a light sailing ship, esp. one formerly used in attendance on a larger ship.
2. any of various kinds of ship's boats.
3. a small 17th-century ship having two or three masts and a flat stern, used in northern Europe as a warship and merchant ship and as a tender.
[ 1540-50; pinace pinaza lit., something made of pino PINE 1 ]