Sekirov Dictionary

feather

UK /ˈfɛðə/US /ˈfɛðɚ/

verb 15
noun 11
forms 3
phrases 4

verb15

•
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. — 1692
•
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. — 1816
•
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. — 2001
•
To move softly, like a feather.
- She feathered her fingers through Mitchell's hair. “Besides, I like you a whole lot better than Frye.” — 2005
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 arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers.
- The stylist feathered my hair.
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. — 1940
•
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. — 1622
•
To render light as a feather; to give wings to.
- The Polonian story, which perhaps may feather some tedious hours. — 1650
•
To tread, as a cockerel.
- Ardent in love[…]He feather'd her a hundred times a day. — 1700
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.

noun11

•
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. — 1873
One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow.
•
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. — 1605
Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair.
[in the plural] Partridges and pheasants, as opposed to rabbits and hares (called fur).
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.
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.
•
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'. — 2020
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.
A faint edge.

forms

feathered · feathering · feathers

Phrases with feather

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