Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A crow's feather cut into a pen, used where fine writing is required, as in lithography, tracing, etc.; also, a fine metallic pen imitating the quill.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A quill of the crow, or a very fine pen made from such a quill.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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I here found an insect which preys on ants; it is about an inch and a quarter long, as thick as a crow-quill, and covered with black hair.
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The natives, too, profit by the occasion, and actively collect them for food, they being about half an inch long, as thick as a crow-quill, and very fat.
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The bower our host boasted of was perched on a small limb and hardly big enough to hold a desk, but there was a stool there, several crow-quill pens, paper, and a pot of ink.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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The natural crow-quill is a much more sympathetic tool than a steel pen, although not quite so certain in its line.
The Practice and Science of Drawing Harold Speed
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They covered three pages of large letter-paper with crow-quill handwriting, folded the paper neatly, tucked one edge beneath the other (for there were no envelopes), and then sealed it with a wafer or with sealing-wax.
Manners and Social Usages Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
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In the housewife is a tiny pocket, and in the pocket is enclosed a slip of paper, on which, written as with a crow-quill, are these lines: --
Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters A Family Record Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh
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CASE I. A.B. received a severe punctured wound by a hook of the size of a crow-quill, which pierced into the flesh between the thumb and fore-finger on the outside of the hand; scarcely a drop of blood followed, but there was immediately severe pain and tumefaction.
An Essay on the Application of the Lunar Caustic in the Cure of Certain Wounds and Ulcers John Higginbottom
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This difficulty is overcome by using tracing paper, making the lines with a fine crow-quill and ink.
Golden Days for Boys and Girls Volume XIII, No. 51: November 12, 1892 Various
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"I do indeed," I replied fervently, sitting down and producing crow-quill and Indian ink from my bag.
Try Anything Twice 1938
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The second was linen-faced, which turned out to be worse than ever; the crow-quill scratched, the ink spluttered wildly.
Try Anything Twice 1938
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