A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1420-1475, 1596-1666
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Fether, n. Also: fethir, fethyr, fethre. [ME. fethir, fether, OE. feðer. Cf. Fedder n.] A feather. c1420 Wynt. ii. 1340.
For dowt the ayre Sulde melt away his fethrys fayre c1450-2 Howlat 838.
The golk … Flang him flat in the fyre, fetheris and all c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace x. 137.
Quhill deym Natur tuk off ilk byrd … A fayr fethyr 1596 Dalr. i. 26/4.
Of thair fethiris and fatt … he gathiris mekle money 1596 Ib. II. 125/30.
Sum cok and capoun fethiris 1618 Edinburgh Testaments L. 164 b.
Ane manis quhyt fether, price liij s. iiij d. 1630 Misc. Hist. Soc. II. 258.
My childring … wold fane flie if I could furnish thame fetheris 1666 Peebles B. Rec. II. 73.
The silver arrow, which wants the ridge or fether and ane hanging pendicle
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"Fether n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/fether>
