ppl. a. [f. FEATHER sb. and v. + -ED.]
1. Of birds, animals, etc.: Provided with or having feathers. Also in parasynthetic comb., as black-, hard-, pen-, well-feathered adjs.
[c. 1150. Eadwine’s Psalter (E.E.T.S.), lxxvii. 27. Fuglæs ȝefeðerede.]
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15990 (Cott.).
| Þe cok lepe vp and flight | |
| Federd faryer þan be-forn. |
c. 1300. K. Alis., 5406. Hy weren blake fethered on the wombe.
a. 1440. Found. St. Bartholomew’s, I. vi. The vision of the federyd beiste.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 163. I wil not refuse to shew you somwhat also of my feathered cattle.
1684. R. H., School Recreat., 131. See that he [the cock] be sound, hard feather’d, and full summed.
1708. Prior, Turtle & Sparrow, 263. My children then were just pen-feather’d.
1721. R. Bradley, Wks. Nature, 85. Thus have I remark’d what is most observable in the feathered Tribe.
1769. J. Wallis, Nat. Hist. Northumberland, I. ix. 311. The young being surprized … when they are near full feathered.
1840. F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., II. 242. The legs [of the Frigate-bird] are very short, and feathered to the feet.
1876. Smiles, Sc. Natur., vii. (ed. 4), 105. A feathered wanderer flew by.
transf. 1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xii. One of the supporting cliffs, with part of the bridge, was in deep shade, but the other, feathered with foliage, and the rising surges at its foot, were strongly illuminated.
1851. H. Mayo, Truths in Pop. Superst. (ed. 2), 25. An abrupt craggy ridge, feathered with underwood.
b. Pertaining to or consisting of animals with feathers.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Natur Passis Nuriture, 53. Fra sho with fedrit flesh was fed.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Matinée, The Fox that sleepes a mornings meets with no feathered breakfasts.
1889. (title of periodical), The Feathered World.
2. That is, or seems to be, supplied with wings; winged, fleet.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T., 100 b. The God that feadreth [sic] is and blinde.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. i. 106.
| I saw young Harry with his beuer on, | |
| His cushes on his thighes, gallantly armde, | |
| Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. | |
| Ibid. (1608), Per. V. ii. 15. | |
| In feather’d briefness sails are fill’d. |
1636. R. Durham, in Ann. Dubrensia (1877), 56.
| As are those Grey-hounds, which with feather’d feete, | |
| Fly ore your pleasant downes, it had not beene. |
a. 1658. Cleveland, Poems, A Rapture, 43 (L.).
| Nor think this, while our feathered minutes may | |
| Fall under measure, time itself can stay | |
| T’ attend on pleasures. |
1792. S. Rogers, The Pleasures of Memory, I. 61.
| And has its sober hand, its simple chime, | |
| Forgot to trace the feathered feet of Time? |
1865. Lowell, Poet. Wks., Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration (1879), 21 July, 429.
| Yet sometimes feathered words are strong, | |
| A gracious memory to buoy up and save | |
| From Lethe’s dreamless ooze, the common grave | |
| Of the unventurous throng. |
3. Of an arrow: Fitted with a feather. 01 a wound: Inflicted by an arrow.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 143. Sagitta, uel spiculum, ȝefyðerad flaa.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. v. 82. Als swyft as ganze or fedyrit arrow fieis.
1579. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 403. Syxe sheffe of goode arrowes, well fethered hedds.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Æneid (1806), IV. 161.
| Across the shoulders came the feather’d wound; | |
| Transfix’d, he fell, and doubled to the ground. |
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, I. 68.
| The fleet in view, he twang’d his deadly bow, | |
| And hissing fly the feather’d fates below. |
1825. Coleridge, Aids Refl. (1848), I. 53. The arrows of satire feathered with wit.
4. Adorned with a feather or plume of feathers.
1624. Trag. Nero, IV. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., I. 63. The feather’d man of Inde.
1631. T. Powell, Tom of All Trades, 44. It is not your feathered Gallant of the Court, nor your Tauerne Roarer of the Citie, becomes this place I assure you.
1752. A. Macdonald, in Scots Mag., July (1753), 338/1. Allan was … dressed in a blue side-coat … and feathered hat.
1813. Scott, Trierm., II. xxiii.
| It seem’d their feather’d crests alone | |
| Should this encounter rue. |
5. Furnished or ornamented with something resembling a feather or feathers: a. of animals. Cf. FEATHER sb. 11.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2195/4. A black Brown Gelding … feather’d of each side the Neck.
1721. R. Bradley, Wks. Nature, 137. Moths have their Antennæ short and feathered.
b. Archit. Cf. FEATHERING vbl. sb. 2 b.
1845. Ecclesiologist, IV. Jan., 14, note. A very rich canopied monument, with crocketed canopy and double feathered arch.
1848. Rickman, Goth. Archit., 90. The arch … is richly feathered.
c. of a plough-share. Cf. FEATHER sb. 16 c.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 215. The Scots wheeled plough is formed by adding the wheels to the old Scots plough, and giving it a curved mold-board, and feathered sock, as persons fancy.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 95. In land, which is free of stones, the feathered share is preferred.
6. a. Of leaves or petals, timber, etc.: Having feather-like markings.
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, I. iii. 7. High grounds produce wood of a more beautifull-feathered and better graine, than the low, except in Apple trees and Peare trees.
1833. Hogg, Suppl. Florists’ Flowers, 31 [A tulip with certain markings is called] a feathered Bybloemen or feathered Rose.
b. Of plants, branches, etc.: Formed or arranged like feathers; having feather-like hairs or tufts; feather-like.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. vii. 155. A littell crownet, out of the whiche the small feathered leaues do grow.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), I. 224. Summits 3 or 6, reflected, feathered.
1783. Watson, Philip III. (1839), 359. Fir trees, whose close and feathered branches intwined with one another.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, I. 9.
| Not so much life as on a summer’s day | |
| Robs not one light seed from the feathered grass. |
7. In various names of a. flowers and b. moths.
a. 1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. vii. 156. Single Gillofers … are called in Englishe by diuers names, as … feathered Gillofers.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict. The … feathered Columbine, the Thalictrum aquilegifolium.
1878–86. Britten & Holland, Plant-n. Feathered Gillofers, Dianthus plumarius.
b. 1839. Wood, Index Entomol., 28 Eulepia grammica, feathered Footman. Ibid., 51. Heliophobus Leucophæus, feathered Ear. Heliophobus popularis, feathered Gothic.
1869. E. Newman, Brit. Moths 289. The Feathered Brindle (Aporophyla australis). Ibid., 399. The Feathered Ranunculus (Epunda Lichenea).
1870. Wood, Common Moths Eng., 50. The Feathered Thorn (Himera pennaria).
8. Of an oar: That is or has been turned so as to ‘feather’: see FEATHER v. 11.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, II. 417.
| As if the lightly feather’d oar | |
| In an hour could take them to the shore, | |
| Where friends and parents dwell. |
1891. Daily News, 15 Sept., 3/4. The swish of feathered oars upon the water.
9. Sugar-boiling. Cf. FEATHER sb. 13.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Feathered Boiling of Sugar, (among Confectioners) is when after several Boilings, the Artist blows thro’ the Holes of the Skimmer or shakes the Spatula with a back Stroke, till thick and large Bubbles flying up on high, the Sugar is become Feathered.
10. Feathered-shot (see quot.). Cf. feather-shot copper, FEATHER sb. 19.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Feathered-shot. Copper granulated by pouring into cold water.
