Feather
.Meaning species or kind. From the proverb, “Birds of a feather”—i.e. of the same plumage, and therefore of the same sort.
A broken feather. (See Broken . .)
An oiled feather. Kindness of manner and speech. An oiled feather will do more to ease a stubborn lock than great force. (See Power’s Tract called The Oiled Feather.)
Birds of a feather flock together.
Latin: Similes similibus gaudent. Pares cum paribus facile congregantur. Cicero says, “Deos novimus ornatu et vestitu.”
French: Qui se ressemble, sʹassemble.
In full feather. Flush of money. In allusion to birds not on the moult.
In grand feather. Dressed to the nines.
In high feather. In exuberant spirits, joyous. When birds are moulting they mope about, but as soon as they regain their feathers their spirits revive.
Tickled with a feather. Easily moved to laughter. “Pleased with a feather, tickled with a straw,” is more usual; Rire de la moindre bagatelle.
“From day to day some silly things
Upset you altogether;
There’s nought so soon convulsion brings
As tickling with a feather.
‘Gainst minor evils let him pray
Who Fortune’s favour curries;
Cut a feather. A ship going fast is said to cut a feather, in allusion to the ripple which she throws off from her bows. Metaphorically, “to cut a dash.”
“Jack could never cut a feather.”—Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, xxxiv.
To show a white feather. (See White … .)
