tail feather
4
2.4
- noun
- /teɪl ˈfɛðər/
:
pluma de la cola
- The colorful tail feathers of the peacock were on full display during the mating season.
- peacock tail feathers
- long tail feathers
- bird with tail feathers
Examples
-
The gobbler spread his purple, yellow, blue, and black tail feathers threateningly.
Fiction book (1993) -
The turkey moved closer to us, spreading its tail feathers wider.
Fiction book (1993) -
Yes, I have a tail feather.
-
What happened to your lovely tail feathers ?
-
One of them spread his colorful tail feathers.
Fiction book (1993) -
They almost serve as the long tail feathers for the bird itself.
-
Only once did I find a tail feather from a golden pheasant.
Fiction book (1997) -
My tail feathers may droop a little and my wattles show, but I can still out crow anything in the barnyard.
-
The goose opened her beak, wiggled her tail feathers, and gave a loud HONK!
Fiction book (1999) -
The two big males, trailing their tail feathers like quilts tied around their necks, were following a bare little peahen.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
403
1.0
A light flat part of a bird with a thin middle and many thin hair-like parts
1
5.3
The hollow central part of a bird's feather
1
4.5
A large stiff feather on a bird's wing or tail that helps it fly
A long stiff part of a bird's wing once used for writing
How Long
- Specialized
1
5.2
4
2.4
- Specialized
1
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a feather that grows from the tail of a bird' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tail' (rear part) and 'feather' (bird plumage). This simple noun–noun compositional pattern is common across languages and follows standard English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
Tail feather comes from the two simple words tail, the back part of a bird, and feather, a bird's plume. Picture a peacock spreading its long tail feathers to attract a mate, and you will remember it means 'a feather that grows on the tail'.