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Feathering   /fˈɛðərɪŋ/  /fˈɛðrɪŋ/   Listen
noun
Feathering  n.  
1.
(Arch.) Same as Foliation.
2.
The act of turning the blade of the oar, as it rises from the water in rowing, from a vertical to a horizontal position. See To feather an oar, under Feather, v. t.
3.
A covering of feathers.
Feathering float (Naut.), the float or paddle of a feathering wheel.
Feathering screw (Naut.), a screw propeller, of which the blades may be turned so as to move edgewise through the water when the vessel is moving under sail alone.
Feathering wheel (Naut.), a paddle wheel whose floats turn automatically so as to dip about perpendicularly into the water and leave in it the same way, avoiding beating on the water in the descent and lifting water in the ascent.


verb
Feather  v. t.  (past & past part. feathered; pres. part. feathering)  
1.
To furnish with a feather or feathers, as an arrow or a cap. "An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing."
2.
To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe. "A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines."
3.
To render light as a feather; to give wings to.(R.) "The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours."
4.
To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. "They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself."
5.
To tread, as a cock.
To feather one's nest, to provide for one's self especially from property belonging to another, confided to one's care; an expression taken from the practice of birds which collect feathers for the lining of their nests.
To feather an oar (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the water so that the blade will be horizontal and offer the least resistance to air while reaching for another stroke.
To tar and feather a person, to smear him with tar and cover him with feathers, as a punishment or an indignity.


Feather  v. i.  
1.
To grow or form feathers; to become feathered; often with out; as, the birds are feathering out.
2.
To curdle when poured into another liquid, and float about in little flakes or "feathers;" as, the cream feathers. (Colloq.)
3.
To turn to a horizontal plane; said of oars. "The feathering oar returns the gleam." "Stopping his sculls in the air to feather accurately."
4.
To have the appearance of a feather or of feathers; to be or to appear in feathery form. "A clump of ancient cedars feathering in evergreen beauty down to the ground." "The ripple feathering from her bows."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Feathering" Quotes from Famous Books



... TARRING AND FEATHERING. A punishment now obsolete,—inflicted by stripping the delinquent, then smearing him with tar, covering him with flocks and feathers, and towing him ashore. It was ordered in the naval enactments of Richard I. ...
— The Sailor's Word-Book • William Henry Smyth
... tells me that it might lead to a violent scene, and can do no good. As the rents will not be due until autumn, and Master Hugh is now of age and was to be here to look after his own affairs, I have seen no motive for incurring the risk of the tarring and feathering. We American lawyers, ...
— The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume 1. - Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts • James Fenimore Cooper
... of the average American, he remembers the tax on tea, and that his ancestors would not pay it. Picturesque tales of ladies' associations depriving themselves of their favorite beverage, of men tarring and feathering unpopular tradesmen, have survived the hundred and thirty odd years which have passed since then; and the impression is general that the colonists would not pay a tax which bore heavy on them. But it will be noticed by those who have attentively read this account that the ...
— The Siege of Boston • Allen French
... rose tree and japonica, of lawn and crape myrtle, betrayed a lack of pruning knives in the immediate season past; and to the south, where the rice fields had reached acre beyond acre towards the swamps, there were now scattered patches of feathering young pine, creeping everywhere not forbidden to it ...
— The Bondwoman • Marah Ellis Ryan
... tedious system of gymnastics; she scowled unconsciously. Before her, clear to the inward vision, lay a pleasant little pond, set in a ring of new grass. Clear lay the pebbles and roots at the bottom; clear was the reflection of the feathering trees about it; clear shone the eyes of William Thayer as he joyously swam for sticks across it. Great patches of sun warmed the grass and cheered the hearts of two happy wanderers, who fortified themselves from a lunch-basket padded with a red-fringed napkin. Happy ...
— While Caroline Was Growing • Josephine Daskam Bacon


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