I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a feather bed (= a bed with feathers in the mattress )
as light as a feather (= very light )
▪
She was as light as a feather to carry.
feather bedding
feather boa
feather duster
ruffle sb’s feathers (= offend someone )
tail feathers
▪
The bird’s wings and tail feathers were a beautiful purple color.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
light
▪
You're as light as a feather .
▪
The boat had rotted lighter than a feather , but it held.
▪
She had been as light as a feather to carry and her small hands were as cold as ice.
■ NOUN
bed
▪
Without Rice to fall back on like a feather bed of dreams, the 49ers made the transition from specificity to diversity.
boa
▪
Diana Ross sauntered down the catwalk this season wearing little more than a feather boa and a smile.
▪
Better yet, Rodman in a feather boa , running anchor for the women.
▪
Lucy laughing, smoking, Lucy with Jamie's feather boa round her shoulders, Lucy who had kissed her.
▪
A black feather boa , perhaps bought for the Black Ascot, curved lavishly round to cancel any suggestion of nakedness.
ostrich
▪
Some of the figures depicted are clearly chiefs, wearing what may be ostrich feathers .
▪
You travel in style, with ostrich feathers .
▪
Overdress of glass beads, ostrich feathers and yarn.
▪
Her legs, in fishnet stockings, move gracefully, she fans herself with an ostrich feather .
▪
A svelte-looking black velvet off-the-shoulder number, with ostrich feather trim, was priced at £59.99.
peacock
▪
A vase full of peacock feathers smashed to the floor.
▪
After all, peacock feathers still shine brightly when their owner is dead and stuffed.
▪
But he strew the water with peacock feathers and the camels crossed over them like a bridge.
pillow
▪
It's far better to ruin a feather pillow than let yourself overflow in violent behaviour.
tail
▪
From a dry stone wall inland, redstarts darted, like orange flames, tail feathers fanned and quivering.
▪
They also made fans of the tail feathers of the scissor-tail flycatcher, which they wore at the shoulder like epaulets.
▪
A barn owl's body feathers are mostly for warmth, while the wing and tail feathers are used for flight.
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Then you start fanning your tail feathers and puffing your neck in and out.
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Male has white tips to outer tail feathers and three white spots on outer wing quills.
▪
Emperor penguin chicks have a grayish down coat with dark wing and tail feathers , but this odd bird is all white.
▪
The rest of the tail feathers are more manoeuvrable.
■ VERB
ruffle
▪
Her verbal spontaneity ruffled far too many feathers even if it attracted admiration from thousands of radicals and feminists.
▪
Yet he was well aware that tampering with the traditional approach to Swan Lake would ruffle a few feathers .
▪
It ruffled so many feathers , the Robins were reinstated.
▪
These techniques smooth ruffled feathers , paper over cracks, subdue ominous rumblings.
▪
Perhaps, Carew thought, some overbearing staff officer had once ruffled his feathers .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
birds of a feather (flock together)
▪
He figured I had a hustle of my own going and that made us birds of a feather.
feathered friend
▪
However, don't feed your feathered friends very dry bread, desiccated coconut or salty food.
▪
No gratitude came from feathered friends.
tar and feather
▪
These spoke openly of ropes being thrown over high beams and tar and feathers brought into play.
▪
They would tar and feather him and ride him out of the town on a rail for this.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
an eagle feather
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
A little feather here or some kind of detail livens the moment.
▪
In the latter method, the feathers are removed after a hot-water bath.
▪
The baby slept in the bottom drawer of the dresser: the kitten had a feather cushion.
▪
Their voices were feathers, falling leaves, water seeping into its table.
▪
This is a hook which has material and feathers tied on to it.
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This makes the wings very soft to the touch and probably cuts down noise from feathers moving against one another during flight.
▪
Those cells which can form pigment migrate beneath the skin and enter all the feather germs.
▪
Today, the cheapest chicken feed consists of fishmeal, chicken feathers and chicken innards.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
nest
▪
The Bolshoi is full of indolent time-servers, more interested in feathering their nests than in Swan Lake.
▪
In actual fact what he was doing was feathering his own nest at the expense of the nests of the people.
▪
So long as they were in favour, they were free to feather their nests , which Andrei did as industriously as anyone else.
▪
Wetherby may have decided to feather his nest by blackmail.
▪
But they were all like that, more or less, all interested in feathering their nests at his expense.
▪
Two of the others, including the chairman, were using their positions to feather their own nests .
■ VERB
tar
▪
They would tar and feather him and ride him out of the town on a rail for this.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
birds of a feather (flock together)
▪
He figured I had a hustle of my own going and that made us birds of a feather.
feathered friend
▪
However, don't feed your feathered friends very dry bread, desiccated coconut or salty food.
▪
No gratitude came from feathered friends.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
A small shiver of apprehension feathered her spine.
▪
It was still a quarter of a mile beyond the line-up and it was already feathering.
▪
So long as they were in favour, they were free to feather their nests, which Andrei did as industriously as anyone else.
▪
The primary bevels were ground back and feathered away on the grindstone, taking care not to overheat and destroy the temper.