Link Centre Dictionary

feather

feat·her

UK/ˈfɛðə/ US/ˈfɛvə/ fairly common
noun (2) verb (5)

noun

1.

the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds

Synonyms
2.

turning an oar parallel to the water between pulls

Synonyms

verb

1.
2.

cover or fit with feathers

3.

turn the paddle; in canoeing

Synonyms
4.

turn the oar, while rowing

Synonyms
5.

grow feathers

  • “The young sparrows are fledging already”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English fethere, from Old English feþer, from Proto-West Germanic *feþru, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō, from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to fly”). Cognate with West Frisian fear (“feather”), Cimbrian bèdara, fòdara (“pillowcase”), vèdara (“feather”), Dutch veder, veer (“feather”), German Feder (“feather”), German Low German Fedder (“feather”), Luxembourgish Fieder (“feather”), Vilamovian faoder (“feather”), Yiddish פֿעדער (feder, “feather”), Danish fjeder, fjer (“feather”), Faroese fjøður (“feather”), Icelandic fjöður (“feather”), Norwegian Bokmål fjær, fjør (“feather”), Norwegian Nynorsk fjøder, fjør (“feather”), Swedish fjäder (“feather”). Also Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”), Albanian shpend (“bird”), Latin penna (“feather”), Old Armenian թիռ (tʻiṙ, “flight”). The sense correlated with splines and keys (noun sense 4) probably reflects analogy with the fletching sense (noun sense 3).

Phrases

  • beak and feather disease
  • beam feather
  • birds of a feather
  • blood feather
  • cock feather
  • contour feather
  • cut a feather
  • dot or feather
  • feather one's nest
  • feather one's own nest
  • tar and feather

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.