%eather%

n. 1. One who breathes. Hence: (a) One who lives. (b) One who utters. (c) One who animates or inspires. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which puts one out of breath, as violent exercise. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. a pause to catch one's breath, or for some other form of rest or refreshment; -- often used in the phrase
to take a breather, i.e. to pause for refreshment. [ Colloq. ] [ PJC ]

4. a vent in a container to allow equalization of internal and external pressure. [ PJC ]

5. an air intake pipe to provide air to machinery or people submerged or otherwise sealed off from the outside. [ PJC ]

a. 1. Made or done in pleasant weather, or in circumstances involving but little exposure or sacrifice; as, a fair-weather voyage. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Appearing only when times or circumstances are prosperous; as, a fair-weather friend. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fair-weather sailor, a make-believe or inexperienced sailor; -- the nautical equivalent of carpet knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Feathered p. pr. & vb. n. Feathering. ] 1. To furnish with a feather or feathers, as an arrow or a cap. [ 1913 Webster ]

An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe. [ 1913 Webster ]

A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To render light as a feather; to give wings to.[ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours. Loveday. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. [ 1913 Webster ]

They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself. Bacon. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To tread, as a cock. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

To feather one's nest, to provide for one's self especially from property belonging to another, confided to one's care; -- an expression taken from the practice of birds which collect feathers for the lining of their nests. --
To feather an oar (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the water so that the blade will be horizontal and offer the least resistance to air while reaching for another stroke. --
To tar and feather a person, to smear him with tar and cover him with feathers, as a punishment or an indignity. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To grow or form feathers; to become feathered; -- often with out; as, the birds are feathering out. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To curdle when poured into another liquid, and float about in little flakes or “feathers;” as, the cream feathers. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To turn to a horizontal plane; -- said of oars. [ 1913 Webster ]

The feathering oar returns the gleam. Tickell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stopping his sculls in the air to feather accurately. Macmillan's Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To have the appearance of a feather or of feathers; to be or to appear in feathery form. [ 1913 Webster ]

A clump of ancient cedars feathering in evergreen beauty down to the ground. Warren. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ripple feathering from her bows. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. fether, AS. feðer; akin to D. veder, OHG. fedara, G. feder, Icel. fjöðr, Sw. fjäder, Dan. fjæder, Gr. ptero`n wing, feather, pe`tesqai to fly, Skr. pattra wing, feather, pat to fly, and prob. to L. penna feather, wing. √76, 248. Cf. Pen a feather. ] 1. One of the peculiar dermal appendages, of several kinds, belonging to birds, as contour feathers, quills, and down. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ An ordinary feather consists of the quill or hollow basal part of the stem; the shaft or rachis, forming the upper, solid part of the stem; the vanes or webs, implanted on the rachis and consisting of a series of slender laminæ or barbs, which usually bear barbules, which in turn usually bear barbicels and interlocking hooks by which they are fastened together. See Down, Quill, Plumage.

2. Kind; nature; species; -- from the proverbial phrase, “Birds of a feather, ” that is, of the same species. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The fringe of long hair on the legs of the setter and some other dogs. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A tuft of peculiar, long, frizzly hair on a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mach. & Carp.) A longitudinal strip projecting as a fin from an object, to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sidwise but permit motion lengthwise; a spline. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A thin wedge driven between the two semicylindrical parts of a divided plug in a hole bored in a stone, to rend the stone. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Feather is used adjectively or in combination, meaning composed of, or resembling, a feather or feathers; as, feather fan, feather-heeled, feather duster. [ 1913 Webster ]

Feather alum (Min.), a hydrous sulphate of alumina, resulting from volcanic action, and from the decomposition of iron pyrites; -- called also halotrichite. Ure. --
Feather bed, a bed filled with feathers. --
Feather driver, one who prepares feathers by beating. --
Feather duster, a dusting brush of feathers. --
Feather flower, an artifical flower made of feathers, for ladies' headdresses, and other ornamental purposes. --
Feather grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Stipa pennata) which has a long feathery awn rising from one of the chaffy scales which inclose the grain. --
Feather maker, one who makes plumes, etc., of feathers, real or artificial. --
Feather ore (Min.), a sulphide of antimony and lead, sometimes found in capillary forms and like a cobweb, but also massive. It is a variety of Jamesonite. --
Feather shot, or
Feathered shot (Metal.), copper granulated by pouring into cold water. Raymond. --
Feather spray (Naut.), the spray thrown up, like pairs of feathers, by the cutwater of a fast-moving vessel. --
Feather star. (Zool.) See Comatula. --
Feather weight. (Racing) (a) Scrupulously exact weight, so that a feather would turn the scale, when a jockey is weighed or weighted. (b) The lightest weight that can be put on the back of a horse in racing. Youatt. (c) In wrestling, boxing, etc., a term applied to the lightest of the classes into which contestants are divided; -- in contradistinction to light weight, middle weight, and heavy weight. --
A feather in the cap an honour, trophy, or mark of distinction. [ Colloq. ] --
To be in full feather, to be in full dress or in one's best clothes. [ Collog. ] --
To be in high feather, to be in high spirits. [ Collog. ] --
To cut a feather. (a) (Naut.) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows. (b) To make one's self conspicuous. [ Colloq. ] --
To show the white feather, to betray cowardice, -- a white feather in the tail of a cock being considered an indication that he is not of the true game breed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a mattress stuffed with feathers.
Syn. -- feather bed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A substitute for whalebone, made from the quills of geese and turkeys. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Giddy; frivolous; lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; feather-headed. [ Colloq. ]
Syn. -- airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, giddy, lightheaded, light-headed, silly. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Clothed, covered, or fitted with (or as with) feathers or wings; as, a feathered animal; a feathered arrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nonsense feathered with soft and delicate phrases and pointed with pathetic accent. Dr. J. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Furnished with anything featherlike; ornamented; fringed; as, land feathered with trees. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) Having a fringe of feathers, as the legs of certian birds; or of hairs, as the legs of a setter dog. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Her.) Having feathers; -- said of an arrow, when the feathers are of a tincture different from that of the shaft. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) The thin, new growth around the edge of a shell, of an oyster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any thin, as on a board or a razor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a feather-edge; also, having one edge thinner than the other, as a board; -- in the United States, said only of stuff one edge of which is made as thin as practicable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Feverfew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Feather + foil a leaf. ] (Bot.) An aquatic plant (Hottonia palustris), having finely divided leaves. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A frivolous or feather-brained person. [ Colloq. ] H. James. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Giddy; frivolous; foolish. [ Colloq. ] G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Light-heeled; gay; frisky; frolicsome. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or condition of being feathery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Arch.) Same as Foliation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of turning the blade of the oar, as it rises from the water in rowing, from a vertical to a horizontal position. See To feather an oar, under Feather, v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A covering of feathers. [ 1913 Webster ]

Feathering float (Naut.), the float or paddle of a feathering wheel. --
Feathering screw (Naut.), a screw propeller, of which the blades may be turned so as to move edgewise through the water when the vessel is moving under sail alone. --
Feathering wheel (Naut.), a paddle wheel whose floats turn automatically so as to dip about perpendicularly into the water and leave in it the same way, avoiding beating on the water in the descent and lifting water in the ascent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of feathers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like feathers. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Feather-headed; frivolous. [ Colloq. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of embroidery stitch producing a branching zigzag line. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. (Bot.) Having the veins (of a leaf) diverging from the two sides of a midrib. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or resembling, feathers; covered with, or as with, feathers; as, feathery spray or snow. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye feathery people of mid air. Barry Cornwall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Heath. ] Heath. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Gorse and grass
And heather, where his footsteps pass,
The brighter seem. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heather bell (Bot.), one of the pretty subglobose flowers of two European kinds of heather (Erica Tetralix, and Erica cinerea). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Heathy; abounding in heather; of the nature of heath. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. lether, AS. leðer; akin to D. leder, leêr, G. leder, OHG. ledar, Icel. leðr, Sw. läder, Dan. læder. ] 1. The skin of an animal, or some part of such skin, with the hair removed, and tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed for use; also, dressed hides, collectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The skin. [ Ironical or Sportive ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Leather is much used adjectively in the sense of made of, relating to, or like, leather. [ 1913 Webster ]

Leather board, an imitation of sole leather, made of leather scraps, rags, paper, etc. --
Leather carp (Zool.) , a variety of carp in which the scales are all, or nearly all, absent. See Illust. under Carp. --
Leather jacket. (Zool.) (a) A California carangoid fish (Oligoplites saurus). (b) A trigger fish (Balistes Carolinensis). --
Leather flower (Bot.), a climbing plant (Clematis Viorna) of the Middle and Southern States having thick, leathery sepals of a purplish color. --
Leather leaf (Bot.), a low shrub (Cassandra calyculata), growing in Northern swamps, and having evergreen, coriaceous, scurfy leaves. --
Leather plant (Bot.), one or more New Zealand plants of the composite genus Celmisia, which have white or buff tomentose leaves. --
Leather turtle. (Zool.) See Leatherback. --
Vegetable leather. (a) An imitation of leather made of cotton waste. (b) Linen cloth coated with India rubber. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Leathered p. pr. & vb. n. Leathering. ] To beat, as with a thong of leather. [ Obs. or Colloq. ] G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of, pertaining to or made of leather; consisting of leather; as, a black leather jacket. [ PJC ]

n. (Zool.) A large sea turtle (Sphargis coriacea), having no bony shell on its back. It is common in the warm and temperate parts of the Atlantic, and sometimes weighs over a thousand pounds; -- called also leather turtle, leathery turtle, leather-backed tortoise, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ Leather + et, F. -ette. ] A material made in imitation of leather, made of paper and cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of several brightly colored tropical filefishes.
Syn. -- leatherjacket. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) The friar bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of several New World tropical fishes having tiny embedded scales; the leatherjacket{ 2 }.
Syn. -- leatherjacket. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. any of several brightly colored tropical filefishes.
Syn. -- leatherfish. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. any of several New World tropical fishes having tiny embedded scales.
Syn. -- leatherjack. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. The tough-skinned larva of certain crane flies. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A stiff leathery-leaved fern (Polypodium scouleri) of Western North America having ovate fronds parted to the midrib.
Syn. -- leathery polypody, coast polypody, Polypodium scouleri. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A northern temperate bog shrub (Chamaedaphne calyculata) with evergreen leathery leaves and small white cylindrical flowers.
Syn. -- Chamaedaphne calyculata. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. resembling or made to resemble leather; tough but pliable; leathery.
Syn. -- coriaceous, leathered, leathery. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Made of leather; consisting of leather; as, a leathern purse. “A leathern girdle about his loins.” Matt. iii. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) The sordid friar bird of Australia (Tropidorhynchus sordidus). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ from the leather collar that was once part of their uniform. ] A member of the United States Marine Corps; a United States Marine. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

n. (Bot.) A small branching shrub (Dirca palustris), with a white, soft wood, and a tough, leathery bark, common in damp woods in the Northern United States; -- called also moosewood, and wicopy. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Articles made of leather. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Resembling leather in appearance or consistency; tough; as, nothing but a leathery steak left to eat. “A leathery skin.” Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Steam Boilers) A vertical water space in a fire box or combustion chamber. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) A support for the center of a tunnel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person who has the care of neat cattle; a cowherd. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

. Leather made from sheep and calf skins by mechanically forcing ooze through them; esp., such leather with a soft, finely granulated finish (called sometimes
velvet finish) put on the flesh side for special purposes. Ordinary ooze leather is used for shoe uppers, in bookbinding, etc. Hence
Ooze calf,
Ooze finish, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Upper leather. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To expose too long to the influence of the weather. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A feather not fully developed; esp., a rudimentary feather just emerging through the skin. [ 1913 Webster ]