flight feather
1
4.5
- noun
- /flaɪt ˈfɛðər/
- Specialized
- Adolescent birds often take weeks to develop their flight feathers, which are crucial for achieving flight.
- attach flight feathers
Examples
-
The sketch and this discussion focus on birds that are standing, but molting flight feathers are very obvious in flight.
Blog text (34) -
The birds are lightly pinched between two fingers, the length of their legs is measured, the flat tops of their heads lightly pressed by a thumb, their flight feathers extended, and all the while they are being held tightly against the men's chests, like trophies.
Fiction book (2001) -
You cut the flight feathers on one side only.
Blog text (4) -
One to hold the duck and one to cut the flight feathers.
Blog text (4) -
Powdery feathers overlaid in arcs on the wing, ending in long, straight flight feathers.
Fiction book (1997) -
The way wings scoop night air, which gathers a crow into itself as flight feathers yield to the sway of a silver maple, I become my mother's daughter, woman.
Fiction book (1991) -
The hawk soared high above the trees, its flight feathers perfectly adapted for gliding on the wind.
-
During the breeding season, many birds lose their old flight feathers and grow fresh ones to improve their flying ability.
Synonyms
3
5.3
The hollow central part of a bird's feather
1
8.2
Large outer wing feathers that birds use to fly
1
7.0
A long stiff part of a bird's wing once used for writing
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'flight feather' is compositionally transparent: a B1 learner who knows 'flight' (the act of flying) and 'feather' can infer it means a feather used for flying because the first noun modifies the second to indicate function. This noun–noun compounding pattern is regular in English and cross-linguistically common, so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Flight feather names the large, stiff feathers on a bird's wing or tail that act like small airplane wings to push air and let the bird fly. The words flight and feather show their job: a feather for flight, so it is a feather that helps a bird 'to fly'.