Adjacent Words

Feather definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FEATH'ER,
FEATH'ER-BED
FEATH'ER-DRIVER,
FEATH'ER-FEW, A corruption of feverfew.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds [syn: feather, plume, plumage]
2: turning an oar parallel to the water between pulls [syn: feather, feathering] v
1: join tongue and groove, in carpentry
2: cover or fit with feathers
3: turn the paddle; in canoeing [syn: feather, square]
4: turn the oar, while rowing [syn: feather, square]
5: grow feathers; "The young sparrows are fledging already" [syn: fledge, feather]

Merriam Webster's

geographical name river 100 miles (161 kilometers) N central California flowing S into Sacramento River

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English fether, from Old English; akin to Old High German federa wing, Latin petere to go to, seek, Greek petesthai to fly, piptein to fall, pteron wing Date: before 12th century 1. a. any of the light horny epidermal outgrowths that form the external covering of the body of birds and that consist of a shaft bearing on each side a series of barbs which bear barbules which in turn bear barbicels commonly ending in hooked hamuli and interlocking with the barbules of an adjacent barb to link the barbs into a continuous vane b. archaic plume 2a c. the vane of an arrow 2. a. plumage b. kind, nature <birds of a feather flock together> c. attire, dress d. condition, mood <woke up in fine feather> e. plural composure <some feathers had been ruffled — D. J. Blum> 3. feathering 2 4. a projecting strip, rib, fin, or flange 5. a feathery flaw in the eye or in a precious stone 6. the act of feathering an oar • feathered adjective • featherless adjective II. verb (feathered; feathering) Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. a. to furnish (as an arrow) with a feather b. to cover, clothe, or adorn with or as if with feathers 2. a. to turn (an oar blade) almost horizontal when lifting from the water at the end of a stroke to reduce air resistance b. (1) to change the angle of (airplane propeller blades) so that the chords become approximately parallel to the line of flight; also to change the angle of airplane propeller blades of (an engine) in such a manner (2) to change the angle of (a rotor blade of a rotorcraft) periodically in forward flight 3. to reduce the edge of to a featheredge 4. to cut (as air) with or as if with a wing 5. to join by a tongue and groove 6. to hit, throw, pass, or shoot softly and usually with precision <feathered a perfect lob over the net> intransitive verb 1. to grow or form feathers 2. to have or take on the appearance of a feather or something feathered 3. to soak in and spread ; blur — used of ink or a printed impression 4. to feather an oar or an airplane propeller blade

Britannica Concise

Component structure of the outer covering and flight surfaces of all modern birds. Unique to birds, feathers apparently evolved from the scales of birds' reptilian ancestors. Feathers are variously specialized for insulation, flight, formation of body contours, display, and sensory reception. Unlike the hair of most mammals, feathers do not cover the entire skin surface of birds but are arranged in symmetrical tracts alternating with areas of bare skin, which may contain the small, soft feathers called down. A typical feather consists of a central shaft (rachis), with serial paired branches (barbs) forming a flattened, usually curved surface--the vane. The barbs possess further branches, the barbules, and the barbules of adjacent barbs are attached to one another by hooks, stiffening the vane.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 any of the appendages growing from a bird's skin, with a horny hollow stem and fine strands. 2 one or more of these as decoration etc. 3 (collect.) a plumage. b game-birds. --v. 1 tr. cover or line with feathers. 2 tr. Rowing turn (an oar) so that it passes through the air edgeways. 3 tr. Aeron. & Naut. a cause (the propeller blades) to rotate in such a way as to lessen the air or water resistance. b vary the angle of incidence of (helicopter blades). 4 intr. float, move, or wave like feathers. Phrases and idioms: feather bed a bed with a mattress stuffed with feathers. feather-bed v.tr. (-bedded, -bedding) provide with (esp. financial) advantages. feather-bedding the employment of excess staff. feather-brain (or -head) a silly or absent-minded person. feather-brained (or -headed) silly, absent-minded. feather-edge the fine edge of a wedge-shaped board. a feather in one's cap an achievement to one's credit. feather one's nest enrich oneself. feather-stitch ornamental zigzag sewing. in fine (or high) feather colloq. in good spirits. Derivatives: feathered adj. (also in comb.). featherless adj. feathery adj. featheriness n. Etymology: OE fether, gefithrian, f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feather Feath"er, n. [OE. fether, AS. fe?der; akin to D. veder, OHG. fedara, G. feder, Icel. fj["o]?r, Sw. fj["a]der, Dan. fj[ae]der, Gr. ? wing, feather, ? to fly, Skr. pattra wing, feathr, pat to fly, and prob. to L. penna feather, wing. [root]76, 248. Cf. Pen a feather.] 1. One of the peculiar dermal appendages, of several kinds, belonging to birds, as contour feathers, quills, and down. Note: An ordinary feather consists of the quill or hollow basal part of the stem; the shaft or rachis, forming the upper, solid part of the stem; the vanes or webs, implanted on the rachis and consisting of a series of slender lamin[ae] or barbs, which usually bear barbicels and interlocking hooks by which they are fastened together. See Down, Quill, Plumage. 2. Kind; nature; species; -- from the proverbial phrase, ``Birds of a feather,'' that is, of the same species. [R.] I am not of that feather to shake off My friend when he must need me. --Shak. 3. The fringe of long hair on the legs of the setter and some other dogs. 4. A tuft of peculiar, long, frizzly hair on a horse. 5. One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow. 6. (Mach. & Carp.) A longitudinal strip projecting as a fin from an object, to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sidwise but permit motion lengthwise; a spline. 7. A thin wedge driven between the two semicylindrical parts of a divided plug in a hole bored in a stone, to rend the stone. --Knight. 8. The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water. Note: Feather is used adjectively or in combination, meaning composed of, or resembling, a feather or feathers; as, feather fan, feather-heeled, feather duster. Feather alum (Min.), a hydrous sulphate of alumina, resulting from volcanic action, and from the decomposition of iron pyrites; -- called also halotrichite. --Ure. Feather bed, a bed filled with feathers. Feather driver, one who prepares feathers by beating. Feather duster, a dusting brush of feathers. Feather flower, an artifical flower made of feathers, for ladies' headdresses, and other ornamental purposes. Feather grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Stipa pennata) which has a long feathery awn rising from one of the chaffy scales which inclose the grain. Feather maker, one who makes plumes, etc., of feathers, real or artificial. Feather ore (Min.), a sulphide of antimony and lead, sometimes found in capillary forms and like a cobweb, but also massive. It is a variety of Jamesonite. Feather shot, or Feathered shot (Metal.), copper granulated by pouring into cold water. --Raymond. Feather spray (Naut.), the spray thrown up, like pairs of feathers, by the cutwater of a fast-moving vessel. Feather star. (Zo["o]l.) See Comatula. Feather weight. (Racing) (a) Scrupulously exact weight, so that a feather would turn the scale, when a jockey is weighed or weighted. (b) The lightest weight that can be put on the back of a horse in racing. --Youatt. (c) In wrestling, boxing, etc., a term applied to the lightest of the classes into which contestants are divided; -- in contradistinction to light weight, middle weight, and heavy weight. A feather in the cap an honour, trophy, or mark of distinction. [Colloq.] To be in full feather, to be in full dress or in one's best clothes. [Collog.] To be in high feather, to be in high spirits. [Collog.] To cut a feather. (a) (Naut.) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows. (b) To make one's self conspicuous. [Colloq.] To show the white feather, to betray cowardice, -- a white feather in the tail of a cock being considered an indication that he is not of the true game breed.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feather Feath"er, v. i. 1. To grow or form feathers; to become feathered; -- often with out; as, the birds are feathering out. 2. To curdle when poured into another liquid, and float about in little flakes or ``feathers;'' as, the cream feathers [Colloq.] 3. To turn to a horizontal plane; -- said of oars. The feathering oar returns the gleam. --Tickell. Stopping his sculls in the air to feather accurately. --Macmillan's Mag. 4. To have the appearance of a feather or of feathers; to be or to appear in feathery form. A clump of ancient cedars feathering in evergreen beauty down to the ground. --Warren. The ripple feathering from her bows. --Tennyson.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feather Feath"er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feathered; p. pr. & vb. n. Feathering.] 1. To furnish with a feather or feathers, as an arrow or a cap. An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing. --L'Estrange. 2. To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe. A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines. --Sir W. Scott. 3. To render light as a feather; to give wings to.[R.] The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedions hours. --Loveday. 4. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself. --Bacon. --Dryden. 5. To tread, as a cock. --Dryden. To feather one's nest, to provide for one's self especially from property belonging to another, confided to one's care; -- an expression taken from the practice of birds which collect feathers for the lining of their nests. To feather an oar (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the water so that the blade will be horizontal and offer the least resistance to air while reaching for another stroke. To tar and feather a person, to smear him with tar and cover him with feathers, as a punishment or an indignity.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(feathers) 1. A bird's feathers are the soft covering on its body. Each feather consists of a lot of smooth hairs on each side of a thin stiff centre. ...a hat that she had made herself from black ostrich feathers. ...a feather bed. N-COUNT see also feathered 2. to ruffle someone's feathers: see ruffle

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Plume. 2. Kind, nature, species.

Moby Thesaurus

a continental, a curse, a damn, a darn, a hoot, air, bagatelle, bank, bauble, bead, bean, bejewel, beribbon, bespangle, bibelot, bit, blood, blubber, brand, brass farthing, breed, breeze, bubble, butter, button, cast, catch a crab, ceil, cent, chaff, character, chip, clan, clay, cobweb, color, cork, covert, crab, crest, curio, cushion, cut a crab, denomination, description, designation, diamond, dip, dough, down, dust, eiderdown, engrave, ether, face, fairy, farce, farthing, feather an oar, feather bed, feathers, fig, figure, filigree, fill, fishtail, flag, fleabite, fledge, fleece, floss, flounce, flower, flue, fluff, foam, folderol, form, fribble, frippery, froth, fur, fuzz, garland, gaud, gem, genre, genus, gewgaw, gimcrack, give way, gossamer, grain, hackle, hair, halfpenny, hill of beans, ilk, illuminate, inlay, interline, jest, jewel, joke, kapok, kickshaw, kidney, kin, kind, knickknack, knickknackery, label, line, load, loop, lot, mail, make, manner, mark, minikin, mockery, mold, molehill, mote, nature, number, order, pace, pack, pad, paddle, paint, panache, peppercorn, persuasion, phylum, picayune, pillow, pin, pinch of snuff, pinion, pinprick, plow, plumage, plume, plumule, plush, ply the oar, porpoise, pudding, puff, pull, pull out, pull up, punt, push down, putty, quill, race, rap, red cent, ribbon, roll, row, row away, row dry, row of pins, rubber, rush, satin, scapular, scull, shape, ship oars, shit, shoot, sideslip, silk, skid, sky an oar, snap, sneeshing, sort, sou, spangle, species, speculum, spin, spiral, sponge, spume, stamp, strain, straw, stripe, stuff, stunt, style, swansdown, the like of, the likes of, thistledown, tinsel, topknot, toy, tribe, trifle, trinket, triviality, tuft, tuppence, two cents, twopence, type, undulate, variety, velvet, wad, wainscot, wax, whim-wham, wool, wreathe, yaw, zephyr