FJÖÐR
óflokkað
gen. fjaðrar; old pl. fjaðrar, later fjaðrir; dat. fjöðrum: [A. S. feðer; Engl. feather; Germ. feder; Gr. πτερόν]
1. a feather, it may be used of either the plume or the quill, but usually a distinction is made between fiðri or fiðr, plumage, and fjaðrar, quills; væng-fjöðr, a wing-feather; stél-fjöðr, a tail-feather; dynja hana fjaðrar, Bm. 1; hár ok fjaðrar, Edda (pref.); plokkaði af fjaðrarnar, 77: phrases and sayings, það er ekki fjöðr af fati þínu, ‘tis no feather of thy gear, thou needst not be proud of it, cp. Aesop’s fable; verðr hverr að fljúga sem hann er fjaðraðr, every one must fly as he is feathered; draga fjöðr um e-t, to slur over a thing (vide draga), Fms. vii. 20: cp. the proverb in Rafns S. Bs. i. 647,—lítið er nef várt, en breiðar fjaðrar, our neb is small, but the feathers large, perhaps somewhat corrupt in the text, being taken from some fable about birds; the sense seems to be something like the Fr. ‘l’homme propose, Dieu dispose.’
2. metaph. of feather-formed things,
α. the blade of a spear, Eg. 285, Stj. 461, Ld. 244, Grett. 121, Sturl. ii. 60, Fas. ii. 209, Fb. 111. 409.
β. the fin of a fish, Fas. ii. 131; fiskr niðr frá beltis-stað ok fjöðr á, Fms. iv. 56 (rare).
COMPDS: fjaðrabroddr, fjaðralauss, fjaðrasárr, fjaðraspjót.