feathering

American

[feth-er-ing] / ˈfɛð ər ɪŋ /

noun

a covering of feathers; plumage.
the arrangement of feathers on an arrow.
Music. a very light and delicate use of the violin bow.

ˈfeathering British

/ ˈfɛðərɪŋ /

noun

the plumage of a bird; feathers
another word for feathers
printing
1. an imperfection in print caused by the spreading of ink
2. the use of additional space between lines in typesetting in order to fill the page

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

underfeathering noun

Etymology

Origin of feathering

First recorded in 1520–30; feather + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Traditionally, skiers negotiate the steepest terrain of a course by feathering their skis at a slight diagonal and elongating their stride to help them conserve energy.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Australian skipper removed him for a 13th time in Tests, more than any other bowler, with a furious Root berating himself after prodding at a full delivery and feathering to Carey.

From Barron's

The bird is leucistic, which means it lacks pigment in its feathering.

From BBC

"Following the un-intentional feathering of both engine propellers, the flight crew failed to identify the problem and take corrective actions despite the Crew Alerting Panel cautions," the report said.

From BBC

Both would share my contempt for the greed of generals mostly interested in feathering their nests.

From Washington Post

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023