pinfeather
1
8.9
A small new feather on a young bird still in a thin cover
- noun
- /ˈpɪnˌfɛðər/
- Specialized
:
pluma nueva
- The young bird is covered in pinfeathers that have not yet fully emerged.
Examples
-
As she watched the chick grow, she noticed the new pinfeathers beginning to develop.
-
"Well, kid," #12 said, preening his pinfeathers, "I got into this line of work by creating okra."
Fiction book (2001) -
In the corner, Mr. Chips began to squawk, fluttering his wings and scattering pinfeathers over the table's polished oak surface like so many ashes.
Fiction book (1998) -
During molting season, the fledgling will have many pinfeathers still encased in their sheaths.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A soft, fluffy feather that covers baby birds and sometimes adults
is a newly forming feather on young birds still enclosed in a thin sheath
How Developed
Surface Forms
pinfeather singular
pinfeathers plural
Morphology
Etymology
Pinfeather is made of pin and feather, and pin here means a 'small, pointed thing' like a sewing pin. So a pinfeather is a young, narrow feather still covered by its sheath and looking like a little 'pin'.