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ruffle someone's feathers

feath·er
R r

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [feth -er]
    • /ˈfɛð ər/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [feth -er]
    • /ˈfɛð ər/

Definitions of ruffle someone's feathers words

  • noun ruffle someone's feathers one of the horny structures forming the principal covering of birds, consisting typically of a hard, tubular portion attached to the body and tapering into a thinner, stemlike portion bearing a series of slender, barbed processes that interlock to form a flat structure on each side. 1
  • noun ruffle someone's feathers kind; character; nature: two boys of the same feather. 1
  • noun ruffle someone's feathers something like a feather, as a tuft or fringe of hair. 1
  • noun ruffle someone's feathers something very light, small, or trivial: Your worry is a mere feather. 1
  • noun ruffle someone's feathers Archery. one of the vanes at the tail of an arrow or dart. 1
  • noun ruffle someone's feathers Carpentry. a spline for joining the grooved edges of two boards. 1
See all 25 definitions of ruffle someone's feathers

Information block about the term

Origin of ruffle someone's feathers

First appearance:

before 900
One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English, Old English fether; cognate with Dutch veder, German Feder, Old Norse fjǫthr; akin to Greek pterón, Sanskrit pátram wing, feather

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Ruffle someone's feathers

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Ruffle someone's feathers

ruffle someone's feathers popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 95% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

See also

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