dowle

English

Etymology 1

Compare Old French douille (“soft”), and English ductile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊl/
• Rhymes: -aʊl
• Homophone: dowel

Noun

dowle

1. feathery or woolly down; filament of a feather
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     You fools! I and my fellows
     Are ministers of fate: the elements
     Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well
     Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
     Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
     One dowle that's in my plume; […]

   • a. 1859, De Quincey, Notes on Godwin Foster and Hazlitt, at page 304 in the collected works' volume of 1864.

     No feather, or dowle of a feather, but was heavy enough for him.

Alternative forms

• dowl, doul

Translations

filament of a feather

Russian: боро́здка пера́ f (borózdka perá), пуши́нка (ru) f (pušínka)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aʊli

Noun

dowle (plural dowles)

1. (India, historical or archaic) Alternative form of dooly (“basic Indian litter”).

References

• “dowle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• dowel, lowed, owled, wolde