Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
eiderdown. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
eiderdown, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
eiderdown in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
eiderdown you have here. The definition of the word
eiderdown will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
eiderdown, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From eider + down.
Noun
eiderdown (countable and uncountable, plural eiderdowns)
- (uncountable) The down of the eider duck, used for stuffing pillows and quilts.
1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 80:A great sea lifted us high and, crashing down with a deafening roar, carried us swiftly along on light foam as soft as eiderdown.
- (countable) A quilt stuffed with this down.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:The landlord was near spraining his wrist, and I told him for heaven’s sake to quit—the bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in the world could make eider down of a pine plank.
1919, W Somerset Maugham, “chapter 11”, in The Moon and Sixpence, : Grosset & Dunlap Publishers , →OCLC:I entered. It was a very small room, overcrowded with furniture of the style which the French know as Louis Philippe. There was a large wooden bedstead on which was a billowing red eiderdown, and there was a large wardrobe, a round table, a very small washstand, and two stuffed chairs covered with red rep.
Translations
the down of the eider duck
a quilt stuffed with this down