plumage

noun

Etymology: From Late Middle English plumage, plummage (“bird’s feathers collectively, plumage; (falconry) feathers fed to a hawk to cause it to regurgitate, casting”), from Middle French plumage, plomage (“bird’s feathers collectively; person’s (showy) clothing”), from Old French plumage (“bird’s feathers collectively”) (modern French plumage), from plume (“feather, plume”) + -age (suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Plume is derived from Latin plūma (“feather, plume”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to flow; to fly; to run; etc.”), from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to flow; to fly; to run”). By surface analysis, plume + -age (suffix forming nouns with a sense of appurtenance or collection).

1. The feathers covering the body of a bird collectively.

   “Very fayre ⁊ hardy Hawkes [“Slauon Goshawkes”], large footed, very well penned, theyr downe and plumage excellent fine, their tungs blacke, and their nares large and wide.”

   “[T]he glad Bird [a dove] ſtayes all the day abroad, / And vvondrous proud that he a place had found, / […] / Bathing himſelfe, vvhich long he had not done, / And dryes his feathers in the vvelcome Sunne, / Pruning his plumage, clenſing euery quill, / And going back, he beareth in his bill / An Oliue leafe, by vvhich Noah vnderſtood / The great decreaſe and vvaning of the flood: […]”

2. Feathers used ornamentally; feathering; (countable) a bunch or tuft of such feathers; a plume.

   “[S]he could not but contrast the splendour of the Polish retinues and their plumages and draperies, with the strait-buttoned Prussian dignitaries, all in mere soldier uniform, succinct 'blue coat, white linen gaiters,' and no superfluity even in the epaulettes and red facings.”

3. Feathers which are fed to a hawk to cause it to regurgitate, for the purpose of cleaning its crop; a type of casting.

   “Euery night, after he hath fleen with his hawke the daye, either at the fielde, or brooke, he muſte giue his hawke caſting, ſomewhyles plumage, ſome other whiles pellets of Cotton, or ſuche like, and agayne, ſometimes ſome one medicine or other, according as by hir caſting, or mewte, he ſhall perceyue hir to ſtande needefull thereof, […]”

4. A person's dress, especially when elaborate or fine.

   “While she was thinking what to say, Marie gradually wiped away her tears, and smoothed her plumage in a general sort of way, as a dove might be supposed to make toilet after a shower, […]”

5. A person's external appearance, especially when showy.

   “I have thought / Of thee, thy learning, gorgeous eloquence, / And all the strength and plumage of thy youth, […]”

   “This expression of liberality and confidence from a man of Major Bridgenorth's reserved and cautious disposition, gave full plumage to Mistress Deborah's hopes; […]”