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10 dictionary results for: Feather
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
feath·er 
[feth-er] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
[feth-er] Pronunciation Key –noun
–verb (used with object)
–verb (used without object)
—Verb phrase
—Idioms
| 1. | one of the horny structures forming the principal covering of birds, consisting typically of a hard, tubular portion attached to the body and tapering into a thinner, stemlike portion bearing a series of slender, barbed processes that interlock to form a flat structure on each side. |
| 2. | kind; character; nature: two boys of the same feather. |
| 3. | something like a feather, as a tuft or fringe of hair. |
| 4. | something very light, small, or trivial: Your worry is a mere feather. |
| 5. | Archery. one of the vanes at the tail of an arrow or dart. |
| 6. | Carpentry. a spline for joining the grooved edges of two boards. |
| 7. | Masonry. See under plug and feathers. |
| 8. | a featherlike flaw, esp. in a precious stone. |
| 9. | Machinery. feather key. |
| 10. | Archaic. attire. |
| 11. | Obsolete. plumage. |
| 12. | to provide with feathers, as an arrow. |
| 13. | to clothe or cover with or as with feathers. |
| 14. | Rowing. to turn (an oar) after a stroke so that the blade becomes nearly horizontal, and hold it thus as it is moved back into position for the next stroke. |
| 15. | Aeronautics.
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| 16. | to grow feathers. |
| 17. | to be or become feathery in appearance. |
| 18. | to move like feathers. |
| 19. | Rowing. to feather an oar. |
| 20. | feather into, South Midland U.S. to attack (a person, task, or problem) vigorously. |
| 21. | a feather in one's cap, a praiseworthy accomplishment; distinction; honor: Being chosen class president is a feather in her cap. |
| 22. | birds of a feather. bird (def. 15). |
| 23. | feather one's nest, to take advantage of the opportunities to enrich oneself: The mayor had used his term of office to feather his nest. |
| 24. | in fine or high feather, in good form, humor, or health: feeling in fine feather. |
| 25. | ruffle someone's feathers, to anger, upset, or annoy (another person). |
| 26. | smooth one's ruffled or rumpled feathers, to regain one's composure; become calm: After the argument, we each retired to our own rooms to smooth our ruffled feathers. |
[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE fether; c. D veder, G Feder, ON fjǫthr; akin to Gk pterón, Skt pátram wing, feather]
] —Related forms
feath·er·less, adjective
feath·er·less·ness, noun
feath·er·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
feath·er
(fěth'ər) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window) n.
v. feath·ered, feath·er·ing, feath·ers v. tr.
v. intr.
[Middle English fether, from Old English; see pet- in Indo-European roots.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
feather
feather
O.E. feðer "feather," in pl., "wings," from Gmc. *fethro (cf. O.N. fjöðr, M.Du. vedere, Ger. Feder), from PIE *petra-, zero degree *ptera- "wing, feather," from base *pet- "to rush, to fly" (see petition). To feather one's nest "enrich oneself" is from 1583. Feather-headed "silly" is from 1647. Feather-weight, the lightest allowable, is first recorded 1812, originally in horse-racing; boxing use dates from 1889.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| feather | |
noun | |
| 1. | the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds |
| 2. | turning an oar parallel to the water between pulls |
verb | |
| 1. | join tongue and groove, in carpentry |
| 2. | cover or fit with feathers |
| 3. | turn the paddle; in canoeing |
| 4. | turn the oar, while rowing |
| 5. | grow feathers; "The young sparrows are fledging already" [syn: fledge] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This
feather
In addition to the idioms beginning with feather, also see birds of a feather; fuss and feathers; in fine feather; knock down with a feather; light as a feather; make the dust (feathers) fly; ruffle someone's feathers; show the white feather; tar and feather.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
feather
(fě 'ər) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window)
One of the light, flat structures that cover the skin of birds. A feather is made of a horny substance and has a narrow, hollow shaft bearing flat vanes formed of many parallel barbs. The barbs of outer feathers are formed of even smaller structures (called barbules) that interlock. The barbs of down feathers do not interlock. Evolutionarily, feathers are modified scales, first seen in certain dinosaurs.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This
Feather Sound, FL (CDP, FIPS 21945) Location: 27.90935 N, 82.65709 W
Population (1990): 2690 (1535 housing units)
Area: 10.9 sq km (land), 25.6 sq km (water)
Red Feather Lake, CO Zip code(s): 80545
U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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 Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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 Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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