quill
NounWordNet 3.0
Noun (4)
- pen made from a bird's featherSynonyms: quill pen
- a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog
- any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a birdSynonyms: flight featherpinionquill feather
- the hollow spine of a featherSynonyms: calamusshaft
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
3.(Zool.) (a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine. (b) The pen of a squid. See Pen. [1913 Webster]
4.(Mus.) (a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments. (b) The tube of a musical instrument. [1913 Webster]
He touched the tender stops of various quills.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
1.To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle. [1913 Webster]
His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff.— Goldsmith.[1913 Webster]
2.To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. --Judd. [1913 Webster]