down feather
1
3.2
- noun
- /daʊn ˈfɛðər/
:
pluma de plumón
- Her dark hair was swept high on the crown of her head in the classic manner, and a mass of tiny curls, like goose-down feathers, framed her face.
Examples
-
During the act, Edward is so overcome that he shatters the marriage bed in a spray of splintered wood and down feathers.
Blog text (1) -
Down feathers slowly float down toward the terribly sad and lifeless bodies of Storm and Felicia.
Fiction book (1990) -
Go get me the biggest sack you can find and fill it full of down feathers and carry it to the top of the highest hill you can find and throw all the feathers everywhere in the wind.
-
Adele watches the tiny down feather drift to the floor.
Fiction book (1993) -
She sees that a few of the white down feathers still cling to her.
Fiction book (1993) -
Stubby brown body, some fluffy grayish down feathers.
Fiction book (2001) -
When I first saw it in that fancy catalog that sold reproductions of antiques, I could just see myself lying up in it, propped up with some big down feather pillows covered with material that matched the dust ruffle and comforter.
Fiction book (1993) -
The blanket is filled with soft down feathers that keep me warm during the winter.
-
After the bird preened itself, several down feathers floated gently to the ground.
-
She decided to buy a jacket stuffed with down feathers for better insulation against the cold.
Synonyms
34
4.8
Soft, fine feathers on young birds and under adult feathers
3
3.8
Soft fine feathers from under a goose used as warm filling
Soft fine feathers from a duck used to fill warm bedding and clothing
Soft feathers from the eider duck used to fill warm bedding
A soft, fluffy feather that covers baby birds and sometimes adults
A very small soft feather from a swan that often floats in the air
How Comfortable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'down' denotes fine, insulating bird feathers and 'feather' denotes the bird structure, so 'down feather' refers to that soft insulating feather. This noun–noun compound follows a transparent compounding pattern common across languages and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Down feather is the very soft feather found under a bird's outer feathers, the layer called down, and these tiny feathers trap warm air close to the bird. That's why people use 'down feathers' as filling in pillows and jackets to make them 'soft and warm'.