Word Direct Answers

What does "quill" mean?

Quill: A pen for writing made by sharpening and splitting the point or nib of the stock of a feather; as, history is the proper subject of his quill. Sir H. Wotton.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(Zoöl.) (a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine. (b) The pen of a squid. See Pen.
  2. 3.(Mus.) (a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments. (b) The tube of a musical instrument. He touched the tender stops of various quills. Milton.
  3. 4.Something having the form of a quill; as: (a) The fold or plain of a ruff. (b) (Weaving) A spindle, or spool, as of reed or wood, upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle. (c) (Mach.) A hollow spindle. Quill bit, a bit for boring resembling the half of a reed split lengthways and having its end sharpened like a gouge. -- Quill driver, one who works with a pen; a writer; a clerk. [Jocose] -- Quill nib, a small quill pen made to be used with a holder. Simmonds.
  4. 5.To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle. His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff. Goldsmith.
  5. 6.To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. Judd.

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