feathered

1. 1
   adjective

   Covered with feathers, as a living bird is.

   The feathered serpent appears in many Mesoamerican carvings.

   Newly hatched penguins are not yet fully feathered.

   Similarplumed, fledged

   Oppositefeatherless, unfledged

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of feather.

   The pilot feathered the propeller after the engine failed.

   She feathered the layers of paint until the seam vanished.

   Note

   One regular -ed form serves for both the past tense and the participle. The verb can take an object or stand alone: a crew feathers its oars, or simply feathers. The participle is also where the verb meets the adjectives. An oar that has been feathered is turned flat to the air, and an edge that has been feathered is finely beveled.

3. 3
   adjectivein compounds

   Having feathers of the kind or amount described.

   Silkie chickens are profusely feathered, right down to their toes.

   The peacock is elaborately feathered, with a long iridescent train.

   Similarplumed

   Note

   The combining use, in which another word in front says what kind of plumage is meant: a blue-feathered bird, a white-feathered wing. Joined to an adjective or number before a noun, it is usually hyphenated. With an adverb it stays open and simply measures the plumage, as in profusely feathered or sparsely feathered.

4. 4
   adjective

   Of oars or propellers, with the blades turned edgewise so that they lie in line with the direction of travel.

   With feathered oars, the crew cut their wind resistance on the row back.

   The pilot reported a feathered propeller after shutting down the failed engine.

   Oppositesquared

   Note

   Rowers and pilots share this word. Between strokes, a rower turns the blade flat so it slips through the air instead of catching it. The pilot of a multi-engine aircraft turns the blades of a dead engine edge-on for the same reason, so the propeller stops windmilling and dragging. In both cases the turning is about cutting resistance, not about producing power.

5. 5
   adjective

   Having a finely beveled edge that tapers gradually thin.

   The technician sanded the patch until its edge was feathered into the panel.

   A feathered edge blends repaired paint seamlessly into the original finish.

   Similartapered, beveled

   Note

   A workshop word for an edge with no step in it. The material is ground or sanded to a long, thin taper so that it blends into the surface around it instead of meeting it at an abrupt angle. It pairs most naturally with edge, as in a feathered edge, and describes the finished result of feathering, the verb for finely shaving or beveling.

6. 6
   adjectiveliterary

   Coated or trimmed with something in a way that suggests feathers.

   The dawn sky was feathered with thin streaks of pink cloud.

   The bare branches stood feathered with frost in the morning light.

   Similarlaced, fringed

   Note

   The image here is a fine fringe seen along an edge or skyline. Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad (1869) shows the usual construction, "mountain ridges feathered with pines," where with names what does the fringing. Unlike the poetic "swift" sense, this one describes appearance rather than motion: trees on a ridge, frost on branches, thin cloud across a sky.

7. 7
   adjectiveliterary

   Swift, like the flight of a bird.

   The arrow flew with feathered swiftness toward its distant mark.

   He crossed the meadow in feathered haste, outpacing the wind.

   Similarwinged, swift, fleet

   Oppositeslow, sluggish

   Note

   Verse borrows the speed of flight here. The word usually attaches to a noun of motion rather than to the mover itself, as in feathered haste or feathered swiftness, so the speed seems to have wings. It belongs to poetry and deliberately elevated prose. In everyday writing it reads as ornament, so plain swift or fleet is the safer choice there.

8. 8
   adjectivedialectalAppalachia

   Badly beaten or thrashed.

   He staggered out of the ring badly feathered after the final round.

   By the end of the long campaign, the rebels were feathered and scattered.

   Similarbeaten, battered

   Note

   A regional usage from Appalachian speech, where a beaten man can come home feathered. Outside that region, most listeners will reach first for the plain "covered with feathers" meaning. Use it in dialogue or regional writing where the setting makes the beating clear. In neutral prose it is likely to be misread.

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