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Webster 1828 Edition
Fether
FETH'ER
, n.1.
A plume; a general name of the covering of fowls. The smaller fethers are used for the filling of beds; the larger ones, called quills, are used for ornaments of the head, for writing pens, &c. The fether consists of a shaft or stem, corneous, round, strong and hollow at the lower part, and at the upper part, filled with pith. On each side of the shaft are the vanes, broad on one side and narrow on the other, consisting of thin lamins. The fethers which cover the body are called the plumage; the fethers of the wings are adapted to flight.2.
Kind; nature; species; from the proverbial phrase, 'Birds of a fether,' that is, of the same species. [Unusual.]I am not of that feather to shake off my friend, when he most needs me.
3.
An ornament; an empty title.4.
On a horse, a sort of natural frizzling of the hair, which, in some places, rises above the lying hair, and there makes a figure resembling the tip of an ear of wheat.A fether in the cap, is an honor, or mark of distinction.