feather

verb

to furnish something with one or more feathers

L331691 on Wikidata ↗

noun

body-covering structure of birds
animal material consisting of the keratinous plumage of birds
dance figure

L4889 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈfɛð.ə/ / [ˈfɛð.ə] / /ˈfɛð.ɚ/

name

Etymology: * As an occupational English name, from feather, used to refer to quilt makers, feather traders, etc. * As an Americanized German surname, from Feder.

A surname.
A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English feþer, from Old English feþer, from Proto-West Germanic *feþru, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō, from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to fly”). Cognate with West Frisian fear (“feather”), Cimbrian bèdara, fòdara (“pillowcase”), vèdara (“feather”), Dutch veder, veer (“feather”), German Feder (“feather”), German Low German Fedder (“feather”), Luxembourgish Fieder (“feather”), Vilamovian faoder (“feather”), Yiddish פֿעדער (feder, “feather”), Danish fjeder, fjer (“feather”), Faroese fjøður (“feather”), Icelandic fjöður (“feather”), Norwegian Bokmål fjær, fjør (“feather”), Norwegian Nynorsk fjøder, fjør (“feather”), Swedish fjäder (“feather”). Also Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”), Albanian shpend (“bird”), Latin penna (“feather”), Old Armenian թիռ (tʻiṙ, “flight”). The sense correlated with splines and keys (noun sense 4) probably reflects analogy with the fletching sense (noun sense 3).

A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.
“Notice, too, that the shaft is not straight, but bent so that the upper surface of the feather is convex, and the lower concave.”
“Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses and grotesquely painted faces, together with their many metal ornaments and gorgeously coloured feathers, adding to their wild, fierce appearance.”
Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair.
One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow.
A longitudinal strip projecting from an object to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sideways or rotationally but permit motion lengthwise.
“Near-synonym: spline”
Kind; nature; species (from the proverbial phrase "birds of a feather").
“I am not of that feather to shake off / My friend when he must need me.”
One of the two shims of the three-piece stone-splitting tool known as plug and feather or plug and feathers; the feathers are placed in a borehole and then a wedge is driven between them, causing the stone to split.
The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water.
Anything petty or trifling; a whit or jot.
“To some pew purchasers he gave deeds, to others he gave, none, but both were promised security, and both it seems were equally secure, for the pew deed as Mr. Melledge declared to Mr. G. was not worth a feather.”
Partridges and pheasants, as opposed to rabbits and hares (called fur).
A junction indicator attached to a colour-light signal at an angle, which lights up, typically with four white lights in a row, when a diverging route is set up.
“Signal M123 is a conventional 3-aspect colour light with three Junction Indicators - commonly known as 'feathers'.”
A faint edge.

verb

To cover or furnish with feathers; (when of an arrow) to fletch.
“An Eagle had the ill Hap to be Struck with an Arrow Feather'd from her own Wing.”
“Olondaw had taught Hazeleye how to use her bow and arrows, and that each might know the result of his or her own shooting, he had feathered her arrow with white and his own with red. How strange are the events of this life, […]”
To adorn, as if with feathers; to fringe.
“A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines, or occupied in dwarf clusters the hollow plains of the moor.”
To arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers.
“The stylist feathered my hair.”
To rotate the oars while they are out of the water to reduce wind resistance.
To streamline the blades of an aircraft's propeller by rotating them perpendicular to the axis of the propeller when the engine is shut down so that the propeller does not windmill during flight.
“After striking the bird, the pilot feathered the damaged left engine’s propeller.”
To finely shave or bevel an edge.
To intergrade or blend the pixels of an image with those of a background or neighboring image.
Of written or printed ink: to take on a blurry appearance as a result of spreading through the receiving medium.
“Whether or not the ink feathers depends upon the paper or card, and also upon the nature of the dye in the ink.”
To render light as a feather; to give wings to.
“c. 1650, Robert Loveday, letter to Mr. C. The Polonian story, which perhaps may feather some tedious hours.”
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.”
To tread, as a cockerel.
“Ardent in love[…]He feather'd her a hundred times a day.”
To move the cue back and forth along the bridge in preparation for striking the cue ball.
To accidentally touch the cue ball with the tip of the cue when taking aim.
To touch lightly, like (or as if with) a feather.
“His breath feathered her lips; her spine, her legs weakened, went soft at the wafting warmth.”
“A soft breeze feathered her face and hair. The smell of honeysuckle blanketed the air. She concentrated on shutting out every sound except the whisper of her heart. Gradually the inner distractions became fewer.”
To move softly, like a feather.
“She feathered her fingers through Mitchell's hair. “Besides, I like you a whole lot better than Frye.””
““Asking me not to breathe would be simpler,” Drake said. “If I could spare you what's coming—” “No.” Drake feathered her fingers through Sylvan's hair. “We fight together.” Sylvan nodded and relaxed in her embrace. Drake didn't fear death.”