Quill
Definitions
- The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.
- A surname from Irish.
- A pen made from a feather.
- Any pen.
- 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.
- The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.
- The tube of a musical instrument.
- 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.
- A quill drive, having a hollow shaft with another movable shaft inside it.
Equivalents
Examples
“The note⟳ was written in a delicate hand with a crow-quill, on primrose-coloured paper, with a lilac seal—the motto "tout à vous;" and the whole with just a faint perfume of jasmine.”
“He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.”
“I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord / VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze⟳ thy young blood, / Make⟳ thy tvvo eyes like⟳ Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, / Thy knotty and combined locks to part, / And each particular haire to ſtand an end⟳, / Like⟳ Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]”
“He touched the tender stops of various quills.”
“His hair still stood up in punk-rock quills and spikes.”
“The motors are attached to the bogie frames so as to be fully springborne, and drive⟳ through quills and flexible couplings to the wheels.”
CEFR level
C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
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