Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
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.
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.
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.
Quill
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Quilled
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Quilling
.] 1.
To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings;
as, to
. quill
a ruffleHis cravat seemed
quilled
into a ruff. Goldsmith.
2.
To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn.
Judd.
Webster 1828 Edition
Quill
QUILL
,Noun.
1.
The large strong feather of a goose or other large fowl; used much for writing pens. Hence,2.
The instrument of writing; as the proper subject of his quill.3.
The spine or prickle of a porcupine.4.
A piece of small reed or other hollow plant, or which weavers wind the thread which forms the woof of cloth.5.
The instrument with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.To carry a good quill, to write well.
QUILL
,Verb.
T.
[In the United States, this word is generally, if not universally, pronounced twilled.]
Definition 2024
Quill
quill
quill
See also: Quill
English
Noun
quill (plural quills)
- The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.
- A pen made from a feather.
- (figuratively) Any pen.[1]
- He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.
- A sharply pointed, barbed, and easily detached needle-like structure that grows on the skin of a porcupine or hedgehog as a defense against predators.
- A thin piece of bark, especially of cinnamon or cinchona, curled up into a tube.
- The pen of a squid.
- (music) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.
- (music) The tube of a musical instrument.
- Milton
- He touched the tender stops of various quills.
- Milton
- Something having the form of a quill, such as the fold or plain of a ruff, or (weaving) a spindle, or spool, upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle.
Translations
lower shaft of a feather
pen made of feather
|
|
any pen
needle-like structure that grows on the skin
pen of a squid
|
music: plectrum — see plectrum
Verb
quill (third-person singular simple present quills, present participle quilling, simple past and past participle quilled)
- To pierce or be pierced with quills.
- 1966, David Francis Costello, The World of the Porcupine, J. B. Lippincott & Company, page 66:
- Coyotes, bears, and mountain lions which occasionally kill porcupines are sometimes quilled.
- 2010, Mark Parman, A Grouse Hunter's Almanac: The Other Kind of Hunting, University of Wisconsin Press, ISBN 978-0-299-24920-5, page 49:
- Then one of my dogs got quilled, and it happened again a month later. After putting the dog in a headlock, yanking out several dozen quills, and spurting blood all over myself and the decking of the back porch, I at least understood his antiporcupine venom.
- 1966, David Francis Costello, The World of the Porcupine, J. B. Lippincott & Company, page 66:
- (figuratively) To write.
- 1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, page 182:
- Nibs never would have quilled a seriph to sheepskin.
- 1976, Ed Sanders, Investigative Poetry, City Lights (1976), page 11:
- One has only to recall that Coleridge and Wordsworth one day were lounging by the sea shore, while nearby sat an English police agent on snitch patrol prepared to rush to headquarters to quill a report about the conversation.
- 1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, page 182:
- To form fabric into small, rounded folds.
- To decorate with quillwork.
- 2007, David J. Wishart, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians, University of Nebraska Press (2007), ISBN 0-8032-9862-5, page 32:
- Another characteristic of Plains Indians was the fairly strict division between art made and used by men and art made and used by women. Although men and women sometimes cooperated, women usually painted or quilled very balanced, controlled geometric designs on dresses, moccasins, robes, bags, and containers.
- 2007, David J. Wishart, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians, University of Nebraska Press (2007), ISBN 0-8032-9862-5, page 32:
- (US and Canada, chiefly Appalachia and the Prairies, transitive) To subject (a woman who is giving birth) to the practice of quilling (blowing pepper into her nose to induce or hasten labor).
- For usage examples of this term, see Citations:quill.
References
- ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
Manx
Etymology
From Old Irish cuil (“fly; flea, gnat”).
Noun
quill f (genitive singular quill, plural quillyn)
Synonyms
Mutation
| Manx mutation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
| quill | whill | guill |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | ||
References
- “1 cuil” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.