Word: feather Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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). Pronunciation: /ˈfɛðə/, /ˈfɛvə/, /ˈfeðə/, [ˈfeðə] ~ [ˈfe̞ðə], [ˈfe̝ðə] ~ [ˈfɪðə] 1. To cover or furnish with feathers; (when of an arrow) to fletch. Example: An Eagle had the ill Hap to be Struck with an Arrow Feather'd from her own Wing. Example: Olondaw had taught Hazeleye how to use her bow and arrows, and that each might know the result of his or her own shooting, he had feathered her arrow with white and his own with red. How strange are the events of this life, […] 2. To adorn, as if with feathers; to fringe. Example: A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines, or occupied in dwarf clusters the hollow plains of the moor. 3. To arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers. Example: The stylist feathered my hair. 4. To rotate the oars while they are out of the water to reduce wind resistance. Labels: ambitransitive 5. 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. Example: After striking the bird, the pilot feathered the damaged left engine’s propeller. 6. To finely shave or bevel an edge. 7. To intergrade or blend the pixels of an image with those of a background or neighboring image. 8. Of written or printed ink: to take on a blurry appearance as a result of spreading through the receiving medium. Labels: intransitive Example: Whether or not the ink feathers depends upon the paper or card, and also upon the nature of the dye in the ink. 9. To render light as a feather; to give wings to. Labels: transitive Example: c. 1650, Robert Loveday, letter to Mr. C. The Polonian story, which perhaps may feather some tedious hours. 10. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. Labels: transitive Example: They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself. 11. To tread, as a cockerel. Labels: transitive Example: Ardent in love[…]He feather'd her a hundred times a day. 12. To move the cue back and forth along the bridge in preparation for striking the cue ball. 13. To accidentally touch the cue ball with the tip of the cue when taking aim. 14. To touch lightly, like (or as if with) a feather. Labels: transitive Example: His breath feathered her lips; her spine, her legs weakened, went soft at the wafting warmth. Example: A soft breeze feathered her face and hair. The smell of honeysuckle blanketed the air. She concentrated on shutting out every sound except the whisper of her heart. Gradually the inner distractions became fewer. 15. To move softly, like a feather. Labels: transitive Example: She feathered her fingers through Mitchell's hair. “Besides, I like you a whole lot better than Frye.” Example: “Asking me not to breathe would be simpler,” Drake said. “If I could spare you what's coming—” “No.” Drake feathered her fingers through Sylvan's hair. “We fight together.” Sylvan nodded and relaxed in her embrace. Drake didn't fear death.