Meaning

The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs..

Definitions by Sense

1. The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.
2. A pen made from a feather.
3. (by extension) Any pen.
4. A sharply pointed, barbed, and easily detached needle-like structure that grows on the skin of a porcupine or hedgehog as a defense against predators.
5. A thin piece of bark, especially of cinnamon or cinchona, curled up into a tube.
6. (zoology) The pen of a squid.
7. (music) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.
8. (music) The tube of a musical instrument.

Example Sentences

The note was written in a delicate hand with a crow-quill, on primrose-coloured paper, with a lilac seal—the motto "tout à vous;" and the whole with just a faint perfume of jasmine.

He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.

I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord / VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, / Thy knotty and combined locks to part, / And each particular haire to ſtand an end, / Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]

He touched the tender stops of various quills.

His hair still stood up in punk-rock quills and spikes.

The motors are attached to the bogie frames so as to be fully springborne, and drive through quills and flexible couplings to the wheels.

Coyotes, bears, and mountain lions which occasionally kill porcupines are sometimes quilled.

Then one of my dogs got quilled, and it happened again a month later. After putting the dog in a headlock, yanking out several dozen quills, and spurting blood all over myself and the decking of the back porch, I at least understood his antiporcupine venom.

Word Forms

• quills
• quilling
• quilled

Synonyms for quill

Related Words

When Should You Use Quill?

Use quill when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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