plumage

/ˈplumɪdʒ/

/ˈplumɪdʒ/

Other forms: plumages

If you like the looks of the color and pattern formed by a bird’s feathers, then you like its plumage.

The word plumage traces back to the French word plume, meaning feather, and it’s a way of referring to all the feathers that form the color and patterns of a particular bird. For example, birdwatchers study illustrations of birds so that they can recognize, say, a golden hawk in flight by its plumage.

Definitions of plumage

1. noun

   the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds
   synonyms: feather, plume

   types:

   down, down feather

   soft fine feathers

   aftershaft

   a supplementary feather (usually small) on the underside of the base of the shaft of some feathers in some birds

   contour feather

   feathers covering the body of an adult bird and determining its shape

   alula, bastard wing, spurious wing

   tuft of small stiff feathers on the first digit of a bird's wing

   marabou

   the downy feathers of marabou storks are used for trimming garments

   hackle

   long slender feather on the necks of e.g. turkeys and pheasants

   flight feather, pinion, quill, quill feather

   any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird

   scapular

   a feather covering the shoulder of a bird

   duck down

   down of the duck

   goose down

   down of the goose

   swan's down

   down of the swan

   plumule

   down feather of young birds; persists in some adult birds

   saddle feather, saddle hackle

   a long narrow feather on the back (saddle) of a domestic fowl

   primary, primary feather, primary quill

   one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer edge of a bird's wing

   tail feather

   feather growing from the tail (uropygium) of a bird

   type of:

   body covering

   any covering for the body or a body part

   animal material

   material derived from animals