quill Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun pen made from a bird's feather
quill pen.
noun a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog
noun any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird
flight feather; quill feather; pinion.
noun the hollow spine of a feather
shaft; calamus.

Perhaps fr. F. quille ninepin (see Kayless); but cf. also G. kiel a quill. MHG. kil, and Ir. cuille a quill.

One of the large feathers of a bird's wing, or one of the rectrices of the tail; also, the stock of such a feather.
A pen for writing made by sharpening and splitting the point or nib of the stock of a feather; as, history is the proper subject of his quill. Sir H. Wotton.
(Zoöl.) (a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine. (b) The pen of a squid. See Pen.
(Mus.) (a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments. (b) The tube of a musical instrument.
He touched the tender stops of various quills. Milton.
Something having the form of a quill; as: (a) The fold or plain of a ruff. (b) (Weaving) A spindle, or spool, as of reed or wood, upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle. (c) (Mach.) A hollow spindle. Simmonds.

imperfect & past participle Quilled ; present participle & verbal noun Quilling

To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle.
His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff. Goldsmith.
To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. Judd.