See Also: quill(medicine)
quill(dictionary)
quill(dictionary)

quill (iou)



quill noun1 & verb. LME.
[Prob. from Middle & mod. Low German quiele rel. to synon. Middle High German kil (German Kiel).]
A. noun.
a. gen. A hollow stem or stalk, esp. of a reed. LME-L17.
b. A hollow stem on which yarn is wound; a bobbin, a spool. LME.
c. A musical pipe made from a hollow stem; in pl. (US colloq.) pan-pipes. M16.
d. A curled piece of dried cinnamon or cinchona bark. L18.
e. The whistle of a steam engine. US. M20.
f. A thin tube or straw used to inhale or smoke narcotics. US colloq. M20.
a. A small pipe or tube; now esp. one used for applying slip to pottery. LME.
b. A hollow rotating sleeve of metal etc., esp. one used to transmit the drive from a motor to a concentrically mounted axle. L19.
The shaft of a feather, esp. the calamus; loosely a quill-feather. LME.
b. A pen formed from a main wing or tail feather of a large bird (esp. a goose) by pointing and slitting the end of the shaft. M16.
c. A plectrum formed from the quill of a feather, used for plucking a musical instrument; spec. in instruments of the harpsichord type, a piece of quill attached to a jack causing the string to be plucked when the key is pressed down. M16.
Any of the hollow sharp spines of a porcupine, hedgehog, etc. E17.
Phrases: pure quill: see PURE adjective.
Comb.: quillback a N. American sucker (fish), Carpiodes cyprinus, which has one ray of the dorsal fin greatly elongated; quill-coverts the feathers covering the base of the quill-feathers; quill drive (the apparatus for) the transmission of power from a motor by means of a quill (sense 2b); quill-driver joc. & derog. a clerk, an author; quill-feather any of the main wing and tail feathers (remiges and retrices) of a bird; quill pen = sense 3b above; quillwork a type of applied decoration for clothing, bags, etc., characteristic of certain N. American Indian peoples, using softened and freq. dyed porcupine quills in usu. elaborate designs; quillwort any of various plants constituting the genus Isoetes (family Isoetaceae), allied to the ferns, with dense rosettes of tubular leaves having sporangia embedded in their bases; esp. I. lacustris and I. echinospora, submerged aquatic plants.
b. verb.
verb intrans. Wind yarn on a quill or spool. M17.
verb trans. Form (a lace edge etc.) into small cylindrical folds; goffer. E18.
verb trans. Cover (as) with quills; spec. fit (a harpsichord) with quills to pluck the strings. L18.
verb trans. Write (orig. with a quill), pen. L19.
quilling noun (a) the action of the verb; (b) a piece of quilled lace edging etc.; (c) US the art or practice of producing various sounds on a steam engine whistle; (d) US the craft of making ornamental filigree from tightly rolled columns of paper: M17.
quilly adjective (a) of, pertaining to, or resembling a quill or quills; (b) consisting of or covered by quills: M16.