quill 
Mr. .limes has a quill of bine ink behind <>nr i'ar, a '/mil 
of red ink behind the other, another of black ink in his 
month. W. il. Balffi-, New Timothy, p. 151. 
5. One of the comparatively largo (light-fea- 
thers or remises of any bird, without reference 
to the use of such feathers for making quill 
pens; a quill-feather: as. t lie i/nillx and coverts 
of the wing; sometimes extended to include 
the similar feathers of the tail. 
Who now so long hath praised the chough's white bill 
That he hath left her ne'er a flying quill. 
Manton, Satires, i. 68. 
6. The hard, hollow, horny part of the scape 
of any feather, which does not bear barbs, and 
by which the feather is inserted in the skin ; the 
calamus, as distinguished from the rachis. 
The whole scape is divided into two parts : one, nearest 
the body of the bird, the tube or barrel, or quill proper, 
which is a hard, horny, hollow, and semi-transparent cyl- 
inder, containing a little pith in the interior ; it bears no 
webs. Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 84. 
7. One of the much enlarged and peculiarly 
modified hairs with which some animals, as 
porcupines, are provided ; a large hollow spine. 
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. 
Shale., Hamlet, i. 5. 20. 
Thou It shoote thy quilles at mee, when my terrible 
backe 'a turn'd, for all this ; wilt not, Porcupine ? 
Dekker, Humorous Poet, I. 235. 
8. A piece of small reed or other light slender 
tube, used by weavers to wind thread upon, 
and by manufacturers to hold the wound silk 
and other thread prepared for sale. 
Of works with loom, with needle, and with quill. 
Spenser. 
9. (a) A plectrum of quill, as of a goose, for 
playing on musical instruments of the lute and 
zither families. (6) In the harpsichord, spinet, 
and virginal, a small piece of quill projecting 
from the jack of each key (digital), and so set 
that when the key was depressed the corre- 
sponding string was twitched or twanged by it. 
Various other materials were used instead of 
quills. 10. In seal-engraving, the hollow shaft 
or mandril of the seal-engravers' lathe, in which 
the cutting-tools are secured to be revolved 
while the stones are held against them. 11. 
In mining, a train for igniting a blast, consist- 
ing of a quill filled with slow-burning powder: 
it is now superseded by the safety- fuse. 12. 
The faucet of a barrel. Halliwell. [Proy. Eng.] 
13. Inphar., bark in a roll, such as is often 
formed in drying, as of cinnamon orcinchona. 
In the qulllt, a phrase used in the following passage, 
and interpreted to mean ' penned ' (Steevens) ; ' in form 
and order like a quilled ruff' (Hares); 'in the coil' 
(Singer). 
My lord protector will come this way by and by, and 
then we may deliver our supplications in the quill. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 3. 4. 
Primary, secondary, tertiary quills. See the adjec- 
tives. To be under the quill, to be written about. 
The subject which is now under the quUl is the Bishop 
of Lincoln. Bp. Racket, Abp. Williams, ii. 28. (Dames.) 
To carry a good quill, to write well. 
quill 1 (kwil), v. [< qvtU 1 , .] I. trans. 1. To 
pluck out quills from. 
His wings have been quilled thrice, and are now up 
again. Swift, To Stella, xvii. 
2. To tap, as a barrel of liquor. Halliwell. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
II, intrans. To wind thread or yarn on quills 
for the loom. [New Eng.] 
The child Margaret sits in the door of her house, on a 
low stool, with a small wheel, winding spools in our ver- 
nacular, quilling for her mother. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 2. 
quill 2 (kwil), n. [Also, as mere P., quille; < F. 
quille, a keel: see tec/ 1 .] A fold of a plaited 
or fluted ruff or ruffle. 
quill 2 (kwil), v. t. [< quilf, ?(.] To flute ; form 
with small rounded ridges. 
What they called his cravat was a little piece of white 
linen quilled with great exactness, and hanging below his 
chin about two inches. 
Addison and Steels, Tatler, No. 257. 
quillai (ke-H'), re. [Also qitillay, cullmj ; < 
Chilian quillai, so called from its soap-like 
qualities, < quillcan, wash.] A middle-sized 
Chilian tree, Quillaia Saponaria. Quillai-bark, 
the bark of the quillai-tree, the inner layers of which 
abound in saponin, whence it is commonly used in Chili 
as soap. It has also come into use elsewhere for washing 
silks, printed goods, etc.; and an oil for promoting the 
growth of the hair has been extracted from it. Also 
quUlia-bark, quitlrija-bark, and soap-bark. 
Quillaia (kwi-la'yil), H. [ML. (Molina, 1782), < 
Chilian quilliii.'] A genus of rosaceous trees, 
type of the tribe <?i<ill<n<-<t. It is characterized by 
an inferior radicle, five valvatc calyx-lobes to which ad- 
here the five dilated and fleshy stamen-bearing lobes of 
the disk, and live woolly carpels, becoming a stellate 
309 
4913 
crown of live many-seeded follicles. The 3 or 4 species 
are natives of southern Brazil, Chili, and Peru. They are 
very smooth evergreen trees, bearing scattered and undi- 
vided leaves which are thick, rigid, and veiny. Tint large 
and woolly flowers are in small clusters, of which the lat- 
eral are staminate and the central are fertile. Q. Sapona- 
ria is the quillai, cullay, or soap-bark tree of Chili. See 
quillai-bark, under quillai. Also spelled Qitillaja. 
Quillaieae (kwi-la'ye-e), n.pl. [ML. (Endlicher, 
1840), < Quillaia + -fa?.] A tribe of rosaceous 
plants somewhat resembling the Spirseea, dif- 
fering in the usually broadly winged seeds, and 
characterized by commonly persistent bractless 
sepals, five, ten, or many stamens, one or many 
usually ascending ovules, and fruit of five fol- 
licles or a capsule. It includes 8 genera, mainly 
American, of which Quillaia is the type. See 
Kaacneckia. Also spelled Quillajese. 
quillback (kwil'bak), n. The sailfish, spear- 
fish, or skimback, Carpiodcs cyprinus, a kind of 
carp-sucker. The name is also given to other 
fishes of that genus, as C. difformis. [Local, 
U. S.] 
quill-bit (kwil'bit), n. A small shell-bit : same 
as gouge-bit. 
quill-coverts (kwirkuv"erts), n. pi. Feathers 
immediately covering the bases of the large 
feathers of the wings or tail of a bird; wing- 
coverts or tail-coverts ; tectrices. See covert, 6. 
quill-driver (kwil'dri'ver), n. One who works 
with a quill or pen; a scrivener; a clerk. 
[Slang.] 
quill-driving (kwil'dri'ying), re. The act of 
working with a pen ; writing. [Slang.] 
Some sort of slave's quill-driving. Kingsley, Hypatia, xii. 
quille, n. See quill 2 . 
quilled 1 (kwild), a. [< quill 1 + -ed 2 .] 1. Fur- 
nished with quills. 
His thighs with darts 
Were almost like a sharp-quill'd porpentine. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 363. 
2. Formed into a quill: said of bark: as, 
quilled calisaya, contrasted with flat calisaya. 
In drying it [cinchona-bark] rolls up or becomes 
quilled. 17. S. Dispensatory (15th ed.), p. 433. 
3. In her., having a quill: said of a feather 
employed as a bearing, and used only when the 
quill of a feather is of a different tincture from 
the rest. 
quilled 2 (kwild), a. [< quill"* + -ed 2 .'] Crimped; 
fluted. 
In the Dahlia the florets are rendered quilled [by culti- 
vation], and are made to assume many glowing colours. 
Bncyc. Brit., IV. 129. 
Quilled suture. See suture. 
quiller (kwil'er), n. [< quill 1 + -er 1 .'] An un- 
fledged bird. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
quillet 1 (kwil'et), n. [Origin obscure. Cf. 
quill' 2 .'] 1. AfuiTow. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
2. A croft, or small separate piece of ground. 
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.] 
All the account to make of every bag of money, and of 
every quillet of land, whose it is. Donne, Sermons, ix. 
In the "Cheshire Sheaf," June, 1880, It was stated that 
there were close to the border town of Holt a number of 
quillets cultivated by the poorer freemen. These were 
strips of land marked only by mear or boundary stones 
at a distance of twenty-nine to thirty-two yards. 
N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 836. 
quillet 2 t (kwil'et), n. [Contr. from L. quidlibet, 
anything you please : quid, anything; libet, In- 
bet, it pleases.] A nicety or subtlety; a quib- 
ble. 
O, some authority how to proceed ; 
Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil. 
Shak., L. L. L, iv. 3. 288. 
He is ... swallowed in the quicksands of la\v-quUlets. 
Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, i. 1. 
quill-feather (kwil ' feTH " er), . Same as 
quill 1 , 5. See feather. 
quilling (kwil'ing), n. [< quill 2 + -ing 1 .'] A 
narrow bordering of net, lace, or ribbon plaited 
so as to resemble a row of quills. 
A plain quilling in your bonnet and if ever any body 
looked like an angel, it 's you in a net quilling. 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, Ixxx. 
quill-nib (kwil'nib), n. A quill pen from which 
the feather and a large part of the tube have 
been cut away, leaving only enough of the sub- 
stance to give the point of the pen sufficient 
consistence. This is done for ease of trans- 
portation, and the nib requires a holder like 
the steel pen. 
quillon (ke-ly6n'), . One of the arms or 
branches of the cross-guard of a sword. See 
cross-guard, cross-hilt, cut in next column, and 
cut under hilt. 
quilltail (kwil'tal), n. The ruddy duck, Eris- 
Hiaturaruhida. Also called quilltail coot. [New 
Jersey.] 
quilting 
quill-turn (kwil '- 
tern), n. A ma- 
chine or instru- 
ment in which a 
weavers' quill is 
turned. HnUi- 
ir< II. 
quill-work 
(kwil'w6rk), re. 
Embroidery 
with porcupine- 
quills, such as 
that made by 
the North Ameri- 
can Indians. See 
Canadian em- 
liiii/ilcry, under 
Canadian. 
quiHwort(kwil'- 
wert), re. A 
plant, Isoetcs la- 
<(, -is : so called swor,i.h,u. . .. , u uioos. 
from the quill-like leaves ; also, any plant of 
the genus Isoetcs. See Isoetcs and Merlin's- 
grass. 
quilly (kwil'i), a. [< quill 1 + -y 1 .] Abounding 
in quills ; showing the quills, as a bird's plum- 
age when frayed or worn away. 
His wings became quilly and draggled and frayed. 
J. Owen, Wings of Hope. 
quilt (kwilt), re. [< ME. quilte, quylte, < OF. 
cuilte, also cotre, coutre, also coite, coitte, coistre, 
a tick, mattress, = Sp. Pg. colcha = It. coltre 
= W. cylched, a quilt, < L. culcita, culcitra, a 
cushion, pillow, mattress, quilt: see cushion. 
Cf. counterpane 1 . The Ir. cuilte, a bed, bed- 
tick, is appar. from the E.] If. A mattress or 
flock-bed. 
Cause to be made a good thycke quylte of cotton, or els 
of pure flockes or of cleane wolle, and let the couerynge 
of it be of whytefustyan, and laye it on the fetherbed that 
you do lye on. Eabees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 246. 
After that thei lay down to slepe vpon the grasse, for 
other quyltes ne pilowes hadde thei noon. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 539. 
And you have fastened on a thick quilt, or flock-bed, on 
the outside of the door. B. Jonson, Epicceue, ii. 1. 
2. A cover or coverlet made by stitching to- 
gether two thicknesses of a fabric with some 
soft substance between them; any thick or 
warm coverlet : as, a patchwork quilt. 
In both sorts of tables the beds were covered with mag- 
nificent quilts. Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins, p. 134. 
There Affectation, with a sickly mien, . . . 
On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe. 
Pope, K. of the L., iv. 35. 
3. A quilted petticoat. [Rural.] Log-cabin 
quilt. See logi. Marseilles quilt, a double cotton- 
cloth coverlet woven in patterns which are raised in relief 
in parts, from having a third thickness there interposed. 
quilt (kwilt), y. [< quilt, re.] I. trans. 1. To 
stuff or interline in the manner of a quilt ; sup- 
ply with stuffing. 
A bag quilted with bran is very good, but it drieth too 
much. Bacon, Nat. Hist. 
With these [verminous and polluted rags] deformedly 
to quilt and interlace the intire, the spotlesse, and unde- 
caying robe of Truth. Milton, Prelatical Episcopacy. 
To Charing Cross, and there into the great new Ordi- 
nary, . . . being led thither by Mr. Beale, . . . and he 
sat with me while I had two quilted pigeons, very hand- 
some and good meat. Pepys, Diary, Sept. 26, 1668. 
Dressed 
In his steel jack, a swarthy vest, 
With iron quilted well. Scott, Marmion, v. 3. 
2. To stitch together, as two pieces of cloth, 
usually with some soft substance between: 
as, to quilt a petticoat; in general, to stitch 
together : said of anything of which there are 
at least three layers or thicknesses, the stitch- 
ing often taking an ornamental character, the 
lines crossing one another or arranged in 
curves, volutes, etc. 3. To pass through a 
fabric backward and forward at minute inter- 
vals, as a needle and thread in the process of 
making a quilt. 
He . . . stoops down to pick up a pin, which he quilts 
into the flap of his coat-pocket with great assiduity. 
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 1. 
Quilted armor, stuffed and wadded garments of defense 
held in place and strengthened by quilting. Quilted 
calves, sham calves for the legs, made of quilted cloth. 
Ilalliwell. Quilted grape-shot. See grape-shot. 
quilter (kwil'ter), n. [< quilt + -er 1 .] 1. One 
who quilts; one who makes quilting. 2. An 
attachment to sewing-machines for executing 
quilting upon fabrics. 
quilting (kwil'ting), . [Verbal n. of quilt, .] 
1 . The act or operation of forming a quilt. 
2. The material used for making quilts; pad- 
ding or lining. 3. Qujlted work. 
