Search the Dictionary

Either one of the two apertures in the calamus of a feather.

ngidæ. It is black, with a large handsome crest consisting of a mass of soft, glossy blue feathers curved outward at the tips. It also has a cervical plume consisting of a long, cylindrical dermal process covered with soft hairy feathers. Called also dragoon bird. -- Umbrella leaf (Bot.), an American perennial herb (D…

Destitute of bards, or of reversed points, hairs, or plumes; as, an unbarded feather.

e; underdose; under-garment; underofficer; undersheriff. Under covert (Zoöl.), one of the feathers situated beneath the bases of the quills in the wings and tail of a bird. See Illust. under Bird.

Not fledged; not feathered; hence, not fully developed; immature. Dryden.

To strip of plumes or feathers; hence, to humiliate.

Of or pertaining to the uropygium, or prominence at the base of the tail feathers, in birds. Uropygial gland, a peculiar sebaceous gland at the base of the tail feathers in most birds. It secretes an oily fluid which is spread over the feathers by preening.

The prominence at the posterior extremity of a bird's body, which supports the feathers of the tail; the rump; -- sometimes called pope's nose.

The rhachis and web of a feather taken together.

It is glossy bluish black, with the under tail coverts and the tips and bases of the tail feathers white.

; as, to give vent to anger. -- To take vent, to escape; to be made public. [R.] -- Vent feather (Zoöl.), one of the anal, or crissal, feathers of a bird. -- Vent field (Gun.), a flat raised surface around a vent. -- Vent piece. (Gun.) (a) A bush. See 4th Bush, n, 2. (b) A breech block.

A very fine wavy crosswise color marking, or a patch of such markings, as on the feathers of birds.

The rhachis and web of a feather taken together; the vane.

The bristlelike feathers near the mouth of many birds.

An arrow or bolt for a crossbow having feathers or brass placed at an angle with the shaft to make it spin in flying.

which, warbles; a singer; a songster; -- applied chiefly to birds. In lulling strains the feathered warblers woo. Tickell.

but hear . . . Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock Count the night watches to his feathery dames. Milton.

A clapboard or feather-edged board used in weatherboarding.

The series of barbs implanted on each side of the shaft of a feather, whether stiff and united together by barbules, as in ordinary feathers, or soft and separate, as in downy feathers. See Feather.

Having a tail which has the middle pair of feathers longest, the rest successively and decidedly shorter, and all more or less attenuate; -- said of certain birds. See Illust. of Wood hoopoe, under Wood. Wedge-tailed eagle, an Australian eagle (Aquila audax) which feeds on various small species of kangaroos, and on lam…