English

Alternative forms

• eider down

Noun

eiderdown ‎(countable and uncountable, plural eiderdowns)

1. (uncountable) The down of the eider duck, used for stuffing pillows and quilts.
2. (countable) A quilt stuffed with this down.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 11

     I entered. It was a very small room, overcrowded with furniture of the style which the French know as Louis Philippe. There was a large wooden bedstead on which was a billowing red eiderdown, and there was a large wardrobe, a round table, a very small washstand, and two stuffed chairs covered with red rep.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 3

     The landlord was near spraining his wrist, and I told him for heaven’s sake to quit—the bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in the world could make eider down of a pine plank.

Translations