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white feather

white feath·er
W w

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [hwahyt, wahyt feth -er]
    • /ʰwaɪt, waɪt ˈfɛð ər/
    • /waɪt ˈfeðə(r)/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [hwahyt, wahyt feth -er]
    • /ʰwaɪt, waɪt ˈfɛð ər/

Definitions of white feather words

  • noun white feather a symbol of cowardice. 1
  • idioms white feather show the white feather, to behave in a cowardly manner. 1
  • noun white feather a symbol or mark of cowardice 0
  • noun white feather an indication of cowardice 0
See all 4 definitions of white feather

Information block about the term

Origin of white feather

First appearance:

before 1775
One of the 45% newest English words
First recorded in 1775-85; orig. from a white feather in a gamecock's tail, taken as a sign of inferior breeding and hence of poor fighting qualities

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for White feather

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of White feather

white feather popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 5% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

white feather usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for white feather

noun white feather

  • cold feet — loss or lack of courage or confidence
Just one Synonym for white feather

See also

Matching words

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