/kwɪl/, [kʰw̥ɪl]
OriginFrom late Middle English quyl, which is first attested in the early 15th century with the meanings "fragment of reed" and "shaft of a feather", probably from Low German and Middle Low German quiele, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to pierce, stick”).
Compare Middle High German kil (“large feather, quill”), which is derived from the Low German term.
- The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.
- A pen made from a feather.
“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.”
- broadlyAny pen.
“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.
“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”
- 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.
“He touched the tender stops of various quills.”
- 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.
“His hair still stood up in punk-rock quills and spikes.”
- A quill drive, having a hollow shaft with another movable shaft inside it.
“The motors are attached to the bogie frames so as to be fully springborne, and drive through quills and flexible couplings to the wheels.”
- To pierce with quills. (Usually in the passive voice, as be quilled or get quilled.)
“Coyotes, bears, and mountain lions which occasionally kill porcupines are sometimes quilled.”
“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 b”
- figurativelyTo write.
“Nibs never would have quilled a seriph to sheepskin.”
“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 repor”
- To form fabric into small, rounded folds.
- To decorate with quillwork.
“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 pain”
- Canada, US, transitiveTo subject (a woman who is giving birth) to the practice of quilling (blowing pepper into her nose to induce or hasten labor).
“For quotations using this term, see Citations:quill.”
Formsquills(plural) · quills(present, singular, third-person) · quilling(participle, present) · quilled(participle, past) · quilled(past) · Quills(plural)