Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Feathering   /fˈɛðərɪŋ/  /fˈɛðrɪŋ/   Listen
noun
Feathering  n.  
1.
(Arch.) Same as Foliation.
2.
The act of turning the blade of the oar, as it rises from the water in rowing, from a vertical to a horizontal position. See To feather an oar, under Feather, v. t.
3.
A covering of feathers.
Feathering float (Naut.), the float or paddle of a feathering wheel.
Feathering screw (Naut.), a screw propeller, of which the blades may be turned so as to move edgewise through the water when the vessel is moving under sail alone.
Feathering wheel (Naut.), a paddle wheel whose floats turn automatically so as to dip about perpendicularly into the water and leave in it the same way, avoiding beating on the water in the descent and lifting water in the ascent.


verb
Feather  v. t.  (past & past part. feathered; pres. part. 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."
2.
To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe. "A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines."
3.
To render light as a feather; to give wings to.(R.) "The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours."
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."
5.
To tread, as a cock.
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.


Feather  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." "Stopping his sculls in the air to feather accurately."
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." "The ripple feathering from her bows."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Feathering" Quotes from Famous Books



... other unfamiliar creatures whose names, in very choice Latin, are only known to the more diligent visitors at the Sunday Zoo. Now everybody must have noticed that the chief broad distinction between these two great groups consists in the feathering of the tail. The domestic donkey, with his near congeners, the zebra and co., have smooth short-haired tails, ending in a single bunch or fly-whisk of long hairs collected together in a tufted bundle at the extreme tip. The horse, on the other hand, besides ...
— Falling in Love - With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science • Grant Allen
... with the air of an absolute master; amusing himself meanwhile with running a French romance with the handsome mistress of the establishment. As a consequence, he had not only opportunities for much quiet feathering of his own nest, but the eclat of always having the use of the Follingsbees' carriages, horses, and opera-boxes, and being the acknowledged and supreme head of fashionable dictation. Ladies sometimes pull caps for such charming individuals, ...
— Pink and White Tyranny - A Society Novel • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... higher than the mere feathering of my own nest. The vision of working for my wife and children somehow induced a yearning for altruism in a broader sense. While free from any vestige of religion, in the ordinary meaning of the ...
— The Rise of David Levinsky • Abraham Cahan
... never saw equalled in any other pigeon, of often walking with its wings raised and arched in an elegant manner. I need say nothing on the great variability, in almost every breed, in size of body, in colour, in the feathering of the feet, and in the feathers on the back of the head being reversed. But I may mention a remarkable Tumbler[302] exhibited at the Crystal Palace, which had an irregular crest of feathers on ...
— The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I. • Charles Darwin
... head, as they glided away, to look at the green tufted shore or the blue sea, bluer than ever in the calm hush of a cloudless sunrise. Very steadily and carefully she rowed, dipping her oars, and "feathering," as papa had taught her, as if only intent on doing her task as well as possible for this the last time. But later, after they reached the village, when the farewells had all been spoken, the Downs ...
— Eyebright - A Story • Susan Coolidge


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com