feather

CEFRB1

/ˈfɛð.ə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    One of the soft, light parts covering a bird.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair.

Examples

  • Making such a large sale is a feather in the salesman's cap.

  • The mother tickled her child with a feather.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • [ˈfɛð.ɚ] ~ [ˈfɛð.ɹ̩]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow.

  2. A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.

  3. 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.

More examples

In context

  • Winning the Grand Prix was a feather in the cap of the famous drivers.

  • After striking the bird, the pilot feathered the damaged left engine’s propeller.

  • The stylist feathered my hair.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

A single white blank fell from the eagle and drifted slowly to the ground.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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 A...