Feath·er 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.
    An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing.   --L'Estrange.
 2. To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe.
    A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines.   --Sir W. Scott.
 3. To render light as a feather; to give wings to.[R.]
    The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours.   --Loveday.
 4. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit.
    They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself.   --Bacon.
 5. To tread, as a cock.
 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.


 Feath·er·ing, n.
 1. Arch. Same as Foliation.
 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.
 3. A covering of feathers.
 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.

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