plumage

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Layer or collection of feathers covering a bird’s body; feathers used ornamentally; feathering.

   In some few cases the young in their first plumage differ from each other according to sex; the young males resembling more or less closely the adult males, and the young females more or less closely the adult females.

2. 2
   noun

   the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds

3. 3
   noun

   Finery or elaborate dress.

Etymology

From Old French plumage (14c.), itself from plume (“feather”) (from Latin plūma (“feather, down”), from a Proto-Indo-European base *plews- (“to pluck, a feather, fleece”) + -age.