What does "feather" mean?
A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.
Feather
/ˈfɛð.ə(ɹ)/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.
- Grammar: feather is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: plume, a continental, a curse, a damn.
- Useful contrasts: demerit, disadvantage, pluck.
- Usage evidence: Making such a large sale is a feather in the salesman's cap.
How to use "feather"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "feather" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "feather" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "feather" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "feather" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "feather" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "plume" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "feather", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 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."
- 2 turning an oar parallel to the water between pulls wordnet
- 3 Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair.
- 4 branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds wordnet
- 5 One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow.
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 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.
"Near-synonym: spline"
- 7 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."
- 8 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.
- 9 The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water.
- 10 Anything petty or trifling; a whit or jot.
"To some pew purchasers he gave deeds, to others he gave, none, but both were promised security, and both it seems were equally secure, for the pew deed as Mr. Melledge declared to Mr. G. was not worth a feather."
- 11 Partridges and pheasants, as opposed to rabbits and hares (called fur). in-plural
- 12 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'."
- 13 A faint edge.
Verb
- 1 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."
- 2 grow feathers wordnet
- 3 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."
- 4 turn the oar, while rowing wordnet
- 5 To arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers.
"The stylist feathered my hair."
Show 15 more definitions
- 6 turn the paddle; in canoeing wordnet
- 7 To rotate the oars while they are out of the water to reduce wind resistance. ambitransitive
- 8 cover or fit with feathers wordnet
- 9 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."
- 10 join tongue and groove, in carpentry wordnet
- 11 To finely shave or bevel an edge.
- 12 To intergrade or blend the pixels of an image with those of a background or neighboring image.
- 13 Of written or printed ink: to take on a blurry appearance as a result of spreading through the receiving medium. intransitive
"Whether or not the ink feathers depends upon the paper or card, and also upon the nature of the dye in the ink."
- 14 To render light as a feather; to give wings to. transitive
"c. 1650, Robert Loveday, letter to Mr. C. The Polonian story, which perhaps may feather some tedious hours."
- 15 To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. transitive
"They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself."
- 16 To tread, as a cockerel. transitive
"Ardent in love[…]He feather'd her a hundred times a day."
- 17 To move the cue back and forth along the bridge in preparation for striking the cue ball.
- 18 To accidentally touch the cue ball with the tip of the cue when taking aim.
- 19 To touch lightly, like (or as if with) a feather. transitive
"His breath feathered her lips; her spine, her legs weakened, went soft at the wafting warmth."
- 20 To move softly, like a feather. transitive
"She feathered her fingers through Mitchell's hair. “Besides, I like you a whole lot better than Frye.”"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.; An English surname originating as an occupation.
- 2 A surname.; An anglicized Americanized German surname from German, equivalent to English Feather.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Making such a large sale is a feather in the salesman's cap."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "feather"?
Common synonyms include: plume, a continental, a curse, a damn, a darn, a hoot.
How do you use "feather" in a sentence?
Making such a large sale is a feather in the salesman's cap.
How do you pronounce "feather"?
Pronounced /ˈfɛð.ə(ɹ)/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English feþer, 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).
Etymology 2
* As an occupational English name, from feather, used to refer to quilt makers, feather traders, etc. * As an Americanized German surname, from Feder.