 5 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
quill
noun
1: pen made from a bird's feather [syn: {quill pen}]
2: a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog
3: any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird [syn: {flight
feather}, {pinion}, {quill feather}]
4: the hollow shaft of a feather [syn: {calamus}, {shaft}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Quill \Quill\, noun [Perhaps fr. F. quille ninepin (see
{Kayless}); but cf. also G. kiel a quill. MHG. kil, and Ir.
cuille a quill.]
1. One of the large feathers of a bird's wing, or one of the
rectrices of the tail; also, the stock of such a feather.
2. A pen for writing made by sharpening and splitting the
point or nib of the stock of a feather; as, history is the
proper subject of his quill. --Sir H. Wotton.
3. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine.
(b) The pen of a squid. See {Pen}.
4. (Mus.)
(a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings
of certain instruments.
(b) The tube of a musical instrument.
He touched the tender stops of various quills.
--Milton.
5. Something having the form of a quill; as:
(a) The fold or plain of a ruff.
(b) (Weaving) A spindle, or spool, as of reed or wood,
upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a
shuttle.
(c) (Mach.) A hollow spindle.
6. (Pharm.) A roll of dried bark; as, a quill of cinnamon or
of cinchona.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Quill bit}, a bit for boring resembling the half of a reed
split lengthways and having its end sharpened like a
gouge.
{Quill driver}, one who works with a pen; a writer; a clerk.
[Jocose]
{Quill nib}, a small quill pen made to be used with a holder.
--Simmonds.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Quill \Quill\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Quilled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Quilling}.]
1. To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings;
as, to quill a ruffle.
His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff. --Goldsmith.
2. To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. --Judd.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
38 Moby Thesaurus words for "quill":
barb, barbule, barrel, bramble, brier, bristle, burr, cactus,
catchweed, cilium, cleavers, crest, feather, filament, filamentule,
goose grass, hackle, needle, nettle, panache, pine needle, pinion,
plume, plumule, prickle, scapular, shaft, spicule, spiculum, spike,
spikelet, spine, sticker, thistle, thorn, topknot, tuft, yucca
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
QUILL, noun An implement of torture yielded by a goose and commonly
wielded by an ass. This use of the quill is now obsolete, but its
modern equivalent, the steel pen, is wielded by the same everlasting
Presence.
|
