sickle feather

Any of the long curving feathers in the tail of a rooster.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sickle feather

(Zoology) (often plural) any of the elongated tail feathers of certain birds, esp the domestic cock

[C17: so called because of its shape]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

sickle feather - one of the long curved tail feathers of a rooster

tail feather - feather growing from the tail (uropygium) of a bird

Mentioned in ?

tail feather

References in periodicals archive ?

hands me a sickle feather. She tells me to rid the rooster of his

Rallying on the plank, the porch swing leans in

In the case of this beautiful rooster, we can tell he is a "he" because of the curved and pointed sickle feathers in his tail.

What do we have here?

The cocks have a proud carriage, full neck, and saddle hackle, and full tails, with well-curved sickle feathers. The hens are domestic and active.