Search the Dictionary

To erect in a ruff, as feathers. [the swan] ruffles her pure cold plume. Tennyson.

One of the outer pinions or feathers of the wing of a bird, esp. of a hawk.

hite, the shoulders tricolored, and the tail bluish black with a large white spot on each feather.

Filled to repletion; saturated; soaked. Dries his feathers saturate with dew. Cowper. The sand beneath our feet is saturate With blood of martyrs. Longfellow.

A small North American owl (Nyctale Acadica), destitute of ear tufts and having feathered toes; -- called also Acadian owl.

Having feathers which in form, color, or arrangement somewhat resemble scales; as, the scaled dove. Scaled dove (Zoöl.), any American dove of the genus Scardafella. Its colored feather tips resemble scales.

ng to the Scansores. See Illust. under Aves. Scansorial tail (Zoöl.), a tail in which the feathers are stiff and sharp at the tip, as in the woodpeckers.

area over the shoulder and along each side of the back of a bird, from which the scapular feathers arise.

Having the outer feathers much the longest, the others decreasing regularly to the median ones.

t gray above, white beneath, salmon on the flanks, and fiery red at the base of the crown feathers.

ient, such as color, taste, odor, etc. -- Secondary quills or remiges (Zoöl.), the quill feathers arising from the forearm of a bird and forming a row continuous with the primaries; -- called also secondaries. See Illust. of Bird. -- Secondary rocks or strata (Geol.), those lying between the Primary, or Paleozoic, an…

The secretary bird. Secretary Bird. Etym: [So called in allusion to the tufts of feathers at the back of its head, which were fancifully thought to resemble pens stuck behind the ear.] (Zoöl.) A large long-legged raptorial bird (Gypogeranus serpentarius), native of South Africa, but now naturalized in the West Indies a…

A feather which has a plumelike web, with the shaft of an ordinary feather.

One of the spinelike feathers at the base of the bill of certain birds.

Bristelike in form or texture; as, a setaceous feather; a setaceous leaf.

A scarecrow, generally made of feathers tied to a string, hung up to prevent deer from breaking into a place. Halliwell.

nd dry as is a shaft. Chaucer. A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele [stale], the feathers, and the head. Ascham.

To let fall; to throw off, as a natural covering of hair, feathers, shell; to cast; as, fowls shed their feathers; serpents shed their skins; trees shed leaves.

ther between the threads of the warp. Like shuttles through the loom, so swiftly glide My feathered hours. Sandys.

A cork stuck with feathers, which is to be struck by a battledoor in play; also, the play itself.