quill

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

quill, n. [Perhaps fr. F. quille ninepin (see Kayless); but cf. also G. kiel a quill. MHG. kil, and Ir. cuille a quill.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine.  [1913 Webster]
•  The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.  [1913 Webster]

  "He touched the tender stops of various quills."  [1913 Webster]
•  Something having the form of a quill  [1913 Webster]
•  A roll of dried bark; as, a quill of cinnamon or of cinchona.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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, v. t. 

•  To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle.  [1913 Webster]

  "His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff."  [1913 Webster]
•  To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn.  Judd.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

quill, n. & v.
--n.
1 (in full quill-feather) a large feather in a wing or tail.
2 the hollow stem of this.
3 (in full quill pen) a pen made of a quill.
4 (usu. in pl.) the spines of a porcupine.
5 a musical pipe made of a hollow stem.
--v.tr. form into cylindrical quill-like folds; goffer.

Idiom

quill-coverts the feathers covering the base of quill-feathers.

Derivative

quilling n.

Etymology

ME prob. f. (M)LG quiele

DEVIL DICTIONARY

quill

n. An implement of torture yielded by a goose and commonly wielded by an ass. This use of the quill is now obsolete, but its modern equivalent, the steel pen, is wielded by the same everlasting Presence.

THESAURUS

quill

barb, barbule, barrel, bramble, brier, bristle, burr, cactus, catchweed, cilium, cleavers, crest, feather, filament, filamentule, goose grass, hackle, needle, nettle, panache, pine needle, pinion, plume, plumule, prickle, scapular, shaft, spicule, spiculum, spike, spikelet, spine, sticker, thistle, thorn, topknot, tuft, yucca

ROGET THESAURUS

quill

Writing

N writing, chirography, stelography, cerography, penmanship, craftmanship, quill driving, typewriting, writing, manuscript, MS, literae scriptae, these presents, stroke of the pen, dash of the pen, coupe de plume, line, headline, pen and ink, letter, uncial writing, cuneiform character, arrowhead, Ogham, Runes, hieroglyphic, contraction, Brahmi, Devanagari, Nagari, script, shorthand, stenography, brachygraphy, tachygraphy, secret writing, writing in cipher, cryptography, stenography, phonography, pasigraphy, Polygraphy, logography, copy, transcript, rescript, rough copy, fair copy, handwriting, signature, sign manual, autograph, monograph, holograph, hand, fist, calligraphy, good hand, running hand, flowing hand, cursive hand, legible hand, bold hand, cacography, griffonage, barbouillage, bad hand, cramped hand, crabbed hand, illegible hand, scribble, pattes de mouche, ill-formed letters, pothooks and hangers, stationery, pen, quill, goose quill, pencil, style, paper, foolscap, parchment, vellum, papyrus, tablet, slate, marble, pillar, table, blackboard, ink bottle, ink horn, ink pot, ink stand, ink well, typewriter, transcription, inscription, superscription, graphology, composition, authorship, cacoethes scribendi, graphoidea, graphomania, phrenoia, writer, scribe, amanuensis, scrivener, secretary, clerk, penman, copyist, transcriber, quill driver, stenographer, typewriter, typist, writer for the press, writing, written, in writing, in black and white, under one's hand, uncial, Runic, cuneiform, hieroglyphical, currente calamo, pen in hand, audacter et sincere, le style est l'homme meme, nature's noblest gift - my gray goose quill, scribendi recte sapere et principium et fons, that mighty instrument of little men, the pen became a clarion.