Search Result for "quill": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (4)

1. pen made from a bird's feather;
[syn: quill, quill pen]

2. a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog;

3. any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird;
[syn: flight feather, pinion, quill, quill feather]

4. the hollow spine of a feather;
[syn: quill, calamus, shaft]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Quill \Quill\, n. [Perhaps fr. F. quille ninepin (see Kayless); but cf. also G. kiel a quill. MHG. kil, and Ir. cuille a quill.] 1. 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] 2. 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] 3. (Zool.) (a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine. (b) The pen of a squid. See Pen. [1913 Webster] 4. (Mus.) (a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments. (b) The tube of a musical instrument. [1913 Webster] He touched the tender stops of various quills. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 5. Something having the form of a quill; as: (a) The fold or plain of a ruff. (b) (Weaving) A spindle, or spool, as of reed or wood, upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle. (c) (Mach.) A hollow spindle. [1913 Webster] 6. (Pharm.) 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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Quill \Quill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quilled; p. pr. & vb. n. Quilling.] 1. To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle. [1913 Webster] His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff. --Goldsmith. [1913 Webster] 2. To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. --Judd. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

quill n 1: pen made from a bird's feather [syn: quill, quill pen] 2: a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog 3: any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird [syn: flight feather, pinion, quill, quill feather] 4: the hollow spine of a feather [syn: quill, calamus, shaft]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

38 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

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.