feather

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Contents

English[edit]

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Parts of a feather:
1. vane
2. rachis, shaft
3. barbs
4. hyporachis, afterfeather
5. calamus, quill
Feathers on a Clydesdale horse

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English fether, from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō, from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ ~ pth₂én- (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to fly”). The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek πέτομαι (pétomai), Albanian shpend (“bird”), Latin penna, Old Armenian թիռ (tʿiṙ).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

feather (plural feathers)

  1. A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the wings of birds that allows their wings to create lift.
    • 1873, W. K. Brooks, "A Feather", Popular Science Monthly, volume IV, page 687
      Notice, too, that the shaft is not straight, but bent so that the upper surface of the feather is convex, and the lower concave.
    • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Beasts of Tarzan, chapter V
      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.
    • 2000, C. J. Puotinen, The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care‎, page 362
      Nesting birds pluck some of their own feathers to line the nest, but feather plucking in pet birds is entirely different.
  2. Long hair on lower legs of heavier horses, especially draft horses, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair.

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

  • (horse hair at rear of lower legs): spats

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

element of bird wings

Verb[edit]

feather (third-person singular simple present feathers, present participle feathering, simple past and past participle feathered)

  1. To cover with feathers.
  2. To arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers.
    The stylist feathered my hair.
  3. (transitive, intransitive, rowing) To rotate the oars while they are out of the water to reduce wind resistance.
  4. (aeronautics) 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 doesn't windmill as the aircraft flies.
    After striking the bird, the pilot feathered the left, damaged engine's propeller.
  5. (carpentry, engineering) To finely shave or bevel an edge.
  6. (computer graphics) To intergrade or blend the pixels of an image with those of a background or neighboring image.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

To cover with feathers
To arrange in the manner of feathers
Rowing: To rotate the oars while they are out of the water
Aeronautics: To streamline an aircraft's propeller blades when shut down
Carpentry, Engineering: To finely shave or bevel an edge
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Translations to be checked

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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