n. [ Beef + eater; prob. one who eats another's beef, as his servant. Cf. AS. hlāf&aemacr_;ta servant, properly a loaf eater. ] 1. One who eats beef; hence, a large, fleshy person. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of the yeomen of the guard, in England. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) An African bird of the genus Buphaga, which feeds on the larvæ of botflies hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, etc. Two species are known. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Surv.) The artificial features of a district as distinguished from the natural. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Defeated; p. pr. & vb. n. Defeating. ] [ From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion. ] 1. To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His unkindness may defeat my life. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To render null and void, as a title; to frustrate, as hope; to deprive, as of an estate. [ 1913 Webster ]

He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

The escheators . . . defeated the right heir of his succession. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

In one instance he defeated his own purpose. A. W. Ward. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To resist with success; as, to defeat an assault. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sharp reasons to defeat the law. Shak.

Syn. -- To baffle; disappoint; frustrate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. défaite, fr. défaire. See Defeat, v. ] 1. An undoing or annulling; destruction. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon whose property and most dear life
A damned defeat was made. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Frustration by rendering null and void, or by prevention of success; as, the defeat of a plan or design. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; -- opposed to victory. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. acceptance of the inevitability of defeat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OF. desfaiture a killing, disguising, prop., an undoing. See Defeat, and cf. Disfeature. ] 1. Overthrow; defeat. [ Obs. ] “Nothing but loss in their defeature.” Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Disfigurement; deformity. [ Obs. ] “Strange defeatures in my face.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Changed in features; deformed. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Features when defeatured in the . . . way I have described. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Defeature. ] To deprive of features; to mar the features of. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. fet, OF. fet, fait, F. fait, factum, fr. L. facere, factum, to make or do. Cf. Fact, Feasible, Do. ] 1. An act; a deed; an exploit. [ 1913 Webster ]

The warlike feats I have done. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A striking act of strength, skill, or cunning; a trick; as, feats of horsemanship, or of dexterity. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To form; to fashion. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To the more mature,
A glass that feated them. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Feater superl. Featest. ] [ F. fait made, shaped, fit, p. p. of faire to make or do. See Feat, n. ] Dexterous in movements or service; skillful; neat; nice; pretty. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Never master had a page . . . so feat. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

And look how well my garments sit upon me --
Much feater than before. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a feat or trim body. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. OF. faitis, faitice, fetis, well made, fine, L. facticius made by art. ] Dexterous; neat. [ Obs. ] Johnson.

-- Feat"e*ous*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. [ OE. fether, AS. feðer; akin to D. veder, OHG. fedara, G. feder, Icel. fjöðr, Sw. fjäder, Dan. fjæder, Gr. ptero`n wing, feather, pe`tesqai to fly, Skr. pattra wing, feather, pat to fly, and prob. to L. penna feather, wing. √76, 248. Cf. Pen a feather. ] 1. One of the peculiar dermal appendages, of several kinds, belonging to birds, as contour feathers, quills, and down. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ An ordinary feather consists of the quill or hollow basal part of the stem; the shaft or rachis, forming the upper, solid part of the stem; the vanes or webs, implanted on the rachis and consisting of a series of slender laminæ or barbs, which usually bear barbules, which in turn usually bear barbicels and interlocking hooks by which they are fastened together. See Down, Quill, Plumage.

2. Kind; nature; species; -- from the proverbial phrase, “Birds of a feather, ” that is, of the same species. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The fringe of long hair on the legs of the setter and some other dogs. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A tuft of peculiar, long, frizzly hair on a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mach. & Carp.) A longitudinal strip projecting as a fin from an object, to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sidwise but permit motion lengthwise; a spline. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A thin wedge driven between the two semicylindrical parts of a divided plug in a hole bored in a stone, to rend the stone. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Feather is used adjectively or in combination, meaning composed of, or resembling, a feather or feathers; as, feather fan, feather-heeled, feather duster. [ 1913 Webster ]

Feather alum (Min.), a hydrous sulphate of alumina, resulting from volcanic action, and from the decomposition of iron pyrites; -- called also halotrichite. Ure. --
Feather bed, a bed filled with feathers. --
Feather driver, one who prepares feathers by beating. --
Feather duster, a dusting brush of feathers. --
Feather flower, an artifical flower made of feathers, for ladies' headdresses, and other ornamental purposes. --
Feather grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Stipa pennata) which has a long feathery awn rising from one of the chaffy scales which inclose the grain. --
Feather maker, one who makes plumes, etc., of feathers, real or artificial. --
Feather ore (Min.), a sulphide of antimony and lead, sometimes found in capillary forms and like a cobweb, but also massive. It is a variety of Jamesonite. --
Feather shot, or
Feathered shot (Metal.), copper granulated by pouring into cold water. Raymond. --
Feather spray (Naut.), the spray thrown up, like pairs of feathers, by the cutwater of a fast-moving vessel. --
Feather star. (Zool.) See Comatula. --
Feather weight. (Racing) (a) Scrupulously exact weight, so that a feather would turn the scale, when a jockey is weighed or weighted. (b) The lightest weight that can be put on the back of a horse in racing. Youatt. (c) In wrestling, boxing, etc., a term applied to the lightest of the classes into which contestants are divided; -- in contradistinction to light weight, middle weight, and heavy weight. --
A feather in the cap an honour, trophy, or mark of distinction. [ Colloq. ] --
To be in full feather, to be in full dress or in one's best clothes. [ Collog. ] --
To be in high feather, to be in high spirits. [ Collog. ] --
To cut a feather. (a) (Naut.) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows. (b) To make one's self conspicuous. [ Colloq. ] --
To show the white feather, to betray cowardice, -- a white feather in the tail of a cock being considered an indication that he is not of the true game breed. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Feathered p. pr. & vb. n. Feathering. ] 1. To furnish with a feather or feathers, as an arrow or a cap. [ 1913 Webster ]

An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe. [ 1913 Webster ]

A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To render light as a feather; to give wings to.[ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours. Loveday. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. [ 1913 Webster ]

They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself. Bacon. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To tread, as a cock. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

To feather one's nest, to provide for one's self especially from property belonging to another, confided to one's care; -- an expression taken from the practice of birds which collect feathers for the lining of their nests. --
To feather an oar (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the water so that the blade will be horizontal and offer the least resistance to air while reaching for another stroke. --
To tar and feather a person, to smear him with tar and cover him with feathers, as a punishment or an indignity. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To grow or form feathers; to become feathered; -- often with out; as, the birds are feathering out. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To curdle when poured into another liquid, and float about in little flakes or “feathers;” as, the cream feathers. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To turn to a horizontal plane; -- said of oars. [ 1913 Webster ]

The feathering oar returns the gleam. Tickell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stopping his sculls in the air to feather accurately. Macmillan's Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To have the appearance of a feather or of feathers; to be or to appear in feathery form. [ 1913 Webster ]

A clump of ancient cedars feathering in evergreen beauty down to the ground. Warren. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ripple feathering from her bows. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a mattress stuffed with feathers.
Syn. -- feather bed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A substitute for whalebone, made from the quills of geese and turkeys. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Giddy; frivolous; lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; feather-headed. [ Colloq. ]
Syn. -- airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, giddy, lightheaded, light-headed, silly. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Clothed, covered, or fitted with (or as with) feathers or wings; as, a feathered animal; a feathered arrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nonsense feathered with soft and delicate phrases and pointed with pathetic accent. Dr. J. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Furnished with anything featherlike; ornamented; fringed; as, land feathered with trees. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) Having a fringe of feathers, as the legs of certian birds; or of hairs, as the legs of a setter dog. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Her.) Having feathers; -- said of an arrow, when the feathers are of a tincture different from that of the shaft. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) The thin, new growth around the edge of a shell, of an oyster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any thin, as on a board or a razor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a feather-edge; also, having one edge thinner than the other, as a board; -- in the United States, said only of stuff one edge of which is made as thin as practicable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Feverfew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Feather + foil a leaf. ] (Bot.) An aquatic plant (Hottonia palustris), having finely divided leaves. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A frivolous or feather-brained person. [ Colloq. ] H. James. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Giddy; frivolous; foolish. [ Colloq. ] G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Light-heeled; gay; frisky; frolicsome. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or condition of being feathery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Arch.) Same as Foliation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of turning the blade of the oar, as it rises from the water in rowing, from a vertical to a horizontal position. See To feather an oar, under Feather, v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A covering of feathers. [ 1913 Webster ]

Feathering float (Naut.), the float or paddle of a feathering wheel. --
Feathering screw (Naut.), a screw propeller, of which the blades may be turned so as to move edgewise through the water when the vessel is moving under sail alone. --
Feathering wheel (Naut.), a paddle wheel whose floats turn automatically so as to dip about perpendicularly into the water and leave in it the same way, avoiding beating on the water in the descent and lifting water in the ascent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of feathers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like feathers. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Feather-headed; frivolous. [ Colloq. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of embroidery stitch producing a branching zigzag line. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. (Bot.) Having the veins (of a leaf) diverging from the two sides of a midrib. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or resembling, feathers; covered with, or as with, feathers; as, feathery spray or snow. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye feathery people of mid air. Barry Cornwall. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ From Feat, a. ] Neatly; dexterously; nimbly. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Foot featly here and there. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Skill; adroitness. [ Archaic ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. feture form, shape, feature, OF. faiture fashion, make, fr. L. factura a making, formation, fr. facere, factum, to make. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Facture. ] 1. The make, form, or outward appearance of a person; the whole turn or style of the body; esp., good appearance. [ 1913 Webster ]

What needeth it his feature to descrive? Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cheated of feature by dissembling nature. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The make, cast, or appearance of the human face, and especially of any single part of the face; a lineament. (pl.) The face, the countenance. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is for homely features to keep home. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The cast or structure of anything, or of any part of a thing, as of a landscape, a picture, a treaty, or an essay; any marked peculiarity or characteristic; as, one of the features of the landscape. [ 1913 Webster ]

And to her service bind each living creature
Through secret understanding of their feature. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A form; a shape. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

So scented the grim feature, and upturned
His nostril wide into the murky air. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Shaped; fashioned. [ 1913 Webster ]

How noble, young, how rarely featured! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having features; formed into features. [ 1913 Webster ]

The well-stained canvas or the featured stone. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no distinct or distinctive features. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having features; showing marked peculiarities; handsome. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Featurely warriors of Christian chivalry. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having coarse, unattractive or stern features. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Steam Boilers) A vertical water space in a fire box or combustion chamber. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) A support for the center of a tunnel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Ill feature. [ R. ] Keats. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To surpass in feats. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A feather not fully developed; esp., a rudimentary feather just emerging through the skin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having part, or all, of the feathers imperfectly developed. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) Any gorgonian which branches in a plumelike form. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + feather. ] To deprive of feathers; to strip. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Wanting regular features; deformed. “Visage rough, deformed, unfeatured, and a skin of buff.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]