Feather vs Beam - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between feather and beam

is that feather is a branching, hair-like structure that grows on the wings of birds that allows their wings to create lift while beam is any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

As verbs the difference between feather and beam

is that feather is to cover with feathers while beam is (ambitransitive) to emit beams of light; shine; radiate.

feather

English

(wikipedia feather)

Alternative forms

* fether

Noun

(en noun)

A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display.

* 1873 , W. K. Brooks, "A Feather", Popular Science Monthly , volume IV, page 687

Notice, too, that the shaft is not straight, but bent so that the upper surface of the feather is convex, and the lower concave.

* 1914 , , The Beasts of Tarzan , chapter V

Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses and grotesquely painted faces, together with their many metal ornaments and gorgeously coloured feathers , adding to their wild, fierce appearance.

* 2000 , C. J. Puotinen, The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care? , page 362

Nesting birds pluck some of their own feathers' to line the nest, but ' feather plucking in pet birds is entirely different.

Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair.

One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow.

A longitudinal strip projecting from an object to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sideways but permit motion lengthwise; a spline.

Kind; nature; species (from the proverbial phrase "birds of a feather").

* Shakespeare

I am not of that feather to shake off / My friend when he must need me.

One of the two shims of the three-piece stone-splitting tool known as (plug and feather) or plug and feathers; the feathers are placed in a borehole and then a wedge is driven between them, causing the stone to split.

(Knight)

The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water.

Synonyms

* (horse hair) feathers, feathering, horsefeathers

Antonyms

* (horse hair at rear of lower legs) spats

Derived terms

{{der3, afterfeather , birds of a feather , contour feather , featherback , featherbed , featherbedding , featherbrain , feather-brained , featherdown , feather duster , featherhead , featherily , featheriness , feathering float , feathering screw , feathering strip , feathering wheel , feather in one's cap , feather in one's hat , featherless , featherlight , featherlike , feather pen , feathertail , featherweight , featherwood , feather wool , featherwork , feathery , fine feathers make fine birds , flight feather , horsefeathers , light as a feather}}

Verb

(en verb)

To cover or furnish with feathers.

* L'Estrange

An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing.

To arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers.

The stylist feathered my hair.

(ambitransitive, rowing) To rotate the oars while they are out of the water to reduce wind resistance.

(aeronautics) To streamline the blades of an aircraft's propeller by rotating them perpendicular to the axis of the propeller when the engine is shut down so that the propeller doesn't windmill as the aircraft flies.

After striking the bird, the pilot feathered the left, damaged engine's propeller.

(carpentry, engineering) To finely shave or bevel an edge.

(computer graphics) To intergrade or blend the pixels of an image with those of a background or neighboring image.

To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe.

* Sir Walter Scott

A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines.

To render light as a feather; to give wings to.

* Loveday

The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours.

To enrich; to exalt; to benefit.

* Francis Bacon

They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself.

(Dryden)

To tread, as a cock.

(Dryden)

Derived terms

* feathered * feather one's nest * feather one's own nest * tar and feather

References

* Horse Glossary * Horses Glossary * Cowboy Dictionary] – [http://www.cowboyway.com/Dictionary/Letter-F.htm Cowboy F: Feather

Anagrams

* *

beam

English

Noun

(en noun)

Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building; one of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid - supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones.

(nautical) The maximum width of a vessel

This ship has more beam than that one.

The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.

*(rfdate) (Alexander Pope)

The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.

The principal stem of the antler of a deer.

(literary) The pole of a carriage.(rfc-sense)

(textiles) A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving and the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven.

The straight part or shank of an anchor.

The central bar of a plow, to which the handles and colter are secured, and to the end of which are attached the oxen or horses that draw it.

In steam engines, a heavy iron lever having an oscillating motion on a central axis, one end of which is connected with the piston rod from which it receives motion, and the other with the crank of the wheel shaft.

A ray or collection of approximatelyly parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body

a beam of light

a beam of energy

* (rfdate) Shakespeare

How far that little candle throws his beams !

* {{quote-news, year=2011

, date=September 22 , author=Nick Collins , title=Speed of light 'broken' by scientists , work=Daily Telegraph citation , page= , passage=A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where they were picked up by giant detectors. }}

(figuratively) A ray; a gleam

a beam of hope, or of comfort

* (rfdate) Keble

Mercy with her genial beam .

One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.

(music) A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.

An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.

Synonyms

* (nautical) breadth * (heavy iron lever) working beam, walking beam * (sense, hawk's feather) beam feather * see also

Hyponyms

* (textiles) fore beam, back beam

Derived terms

(Derived terms) * abeam * balance beam * beam reach * beam splitter * beam-ends * beamer * beamish * beamline * beamy * bond beam * crossbeam * moonbeam * sunbeam * broad across the beam * broad in the beam * chemical beam epitaxy * high-beam * laser beam * molecular beam epitaxy * particle beam * tractor beam

Verb

(en verb)

(ambitransitive) To emit beams of light; shine; radiate.

to beam forth light

(figuratively) To smile broadly or especially cheerfully.

To furnish or supply with beams; give the appearance of beams to.

(science fiction) To transmit matter or information via a high-tech wireless mechanism.

Beam me up, Scotty; there's no intelligent life down here.

(currying) To stretch on a beam, as a hide.

(weaving) To put on a beam, as a chain or web.

(music) To connect (musical notes) with a beam, or thick line, in music notation.

Anagrams

* ----