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(f"r), n.[OE. fether, AS. feer; akin to D. veder, OHG. fedara, G. feder, Icel. fjr, Sw. fjder, Dan. fjder, Gr. ptero°n wing, feather, pe°tesqai to fly, Skr. pattra wing, feather, pat to fly, and prob. to L. penna feather, wing. 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. 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 or barbs, which usually bear barbules, which in turn 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. Sha 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 tedious 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 res 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. スポンサード リンク
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