Calamus vs. Quill

Calamusnoun

The sweet flag, Acorus calamus.

Quillnoun

The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.

Calamusnoun

(ornithology) A quill; the hard, horny, hollow, and more or less transparent part of the stem or scape of a feather.

Quillnoun

A pen made from a feather.

Calamusnoun

A fish of genus Calamus in family Sparidae; certain porgies.

Quillnoun

(figuratively) Any pen.

‘He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.’;

Calamusnoun

A palm in genus Calamus, of pl=s.

Quillnoun

A sharply pointed, barbed, and easily detached needle-like structure that grows on the skin of a porcupine or hedgehog as a defense against predators.

Calamusnoun

The indian cane, a plant of the Palm family. It furnishes the common rattan. See Rattan, and Dragon's blood.

Quillnoun

A thin piece of bark, especially of cinnamon or cinchona, curled up into a tube.

Calamusnoun

A species of Acorus (Acorus calamus), commonly called calamus, or sweet flag. The root has a pungent, aromatic taste, and is used in medicine as a stomachic; the leaves have an aromatic odor, and were formerly used instead of rushes to strew on floors.

Quillnoun

The pen of a squid.

Calamusnoun

The horny basal portion of a feather; the barrel or quill.

Quillnoun

(music) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.

Calamusnoun

any tropical Asian palm of the genus Calamus; light tough stems are a source of rattan canes

Quillnoun

(music) The tube of a musical instrument.

Calamusnoun

the aromatic root of the sweet flag used medicinally

Quillnoun

Something having the form of a quill, such as the fold or plain of a ruff, or (weaving) a spindle, or spool, upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle.

Calamusnoun

perennial marsh plant having swordlike leaves and aromatic roots

Quillverb

To pierce or be pierced with quills.

Calamusnoun

a genus of Sparidae

Quillverb

(figuratively) To write.

Calamusnoun

the hollow shaft of a feather

Quillverb

To form fabric into small, rounded folds.

Quillverb

To decorate with quillwork.

Quillverb

To subject (a woman who is giving birth) to the practice of quilling (blowing pepper into her nose to induce or hasten labor).

Quillnoun

One of the large feathers of a bird's wing, or one of the rectrices of the tail; also, the stock of such a feather.

Quillnoun

A pen for writing made by sharpening and splitting the point or nib of the stock of a feather; as, history is the proper subject of his quill.

Quillnoun

A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine.

Quillnoun

The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.

‘He touched the tender stops of various quills.’;

Quillnoun

Something having the form of a quill

Quillnoun

A roll of dried bark; as, a quill of cinnamon or of cinchona.

Quillverb

To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle.

‘His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff.’;

Quillverb

To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn.

Quillnoun

pen made from a bird's feather

Quillnoun

a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog

Quillnoun

any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird

Quillnoun

the hollow shaft of a feather

Quill

A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen.