QUILL • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Quill

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/kwɪl/ Listen

noun

Quill n.

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.

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.

3.

(Zool.)

(a)

A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine.

(b)

The pen of a squid. See Pen.

4.

(Mus.)

(a)

The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.

(b)

The tube of a musical instrument. "He touched the tender stops of various quills."

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.

6.

(Pharm.) A roll of dried bark; as, a quill of cinnamon or of cinchona.

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.

verb

Quill v. t. (past & past part. quilled; pres. part. quilling)

1.

To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle. "His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff."

2.

To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn.

See images of 'Quill'

Etymology of 'Quill'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Quill" Quotes from Famous Books

... printed with engraved blocks and even with movable types. In the German towns, where the art spread rapidly, the printers adhered to the style of letters which the scribe had found it convenient to make with his quill—the so-called Gothic, or black letter.[230] In Italy, where the first printing press was set up in 1466, a type was soon adopted which resembled the letters used in ancient Roman inscriptions. This was quite ...

— An Introduction to the History of Western Europe • James Harvey Robinson

... time there lived, in a lonely house by the side of a deep, dark forest, a lonely man, to whom the fairies had once given a magic feather, plucked from the wing of a fairy goose; and whenever he touched paper with this quill, lo, the paper was turned into gold! So he amassed great wealth; but no one loved him when he went abroad, because, though he had gold, he had no titles and he was sharp of speech. Only he had one beautiful daughter, more fair than a houri of paradise; and she loved her father very much—more ...

— As We Sweep Through The Deep • Gordon Stables

... emotional scenes are somewhat too uniformly vehement: would not a more subdued style of treatment often have produced a more masterly effect? Now and then Mr. Lewes takes a French pen into his hand, wherein he differs from Mr. Thackeray, who always uses an English quill. However, the French pen does not far mislead Mr. Lewes; he wields it with British muscles. All honour to him for the excellent general tendency of ...

— The Life of Charlotte Bronte • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... take equal parts of fine salt, borax and common soda, pulverize, mix well, and by means of a quill blow well down the throat, using one ...

— The Royal Road to Health • Chas. A. Tyrrell

... is the alpha and omega. Yet there were no poor! a grand reflection for the serious. Adam Smith, settled the question of "the wealth of nations." The source of pauperism will be settled in Victoria by any quill-driver, who has the pluck to write the history of public-houses in the towns, and sly-grog ...

— The Eureka Stockade • Carboni Raffaello

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