"spit feathers" meaning in English

See spit feathers in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-spit feathers.ogg [Australia] Forms: spits feathers [present, singular, third-person], spitting feathers [participle, present], spat feathers [past], spit feathers [US, past], spat feathers [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|spit<,,spat> feathers|past2=spit feathers|past2_qual=US}} spit feathers (third-person singular simple present spits feathers, present participle spitting feathers, simple past spat feathers or (US) spit feathers, past participle spat feathers)
  1. (idiomatic) To feel very thirsty. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms (to feel very thirsty): spit cotton
    Sense id: en-spit_feathers-en-verb-oWmafxFE Disambiguation of 'to feel very thirsty': 75 25
  2. (idiomatic) To feel very angry; to sputter angrily. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms (to feel very angry, to sputter angrily): spit nails
    Sense id: en-spit_feathers-en-verb-iBjaAcK1 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 31 69 Disambiguation of 'to feel very angry, to sputter angrily': 20 80

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for spit feathers meaning in English (3.4kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spits feathers",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spitting feathers",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spat feathers",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spit feathers",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spat feathers",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "spit<,,spat> feathers",
        "past2": "spit feathers",
        "past2_qual": "US"
      },
      "expansion": "spit feathers (third-person singular simple present spits feathers, present participle spitting feathers, simple past spat feathers or (US) spit feathers, past participle spat feathers)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Robert David MacDonald, “Salto Mortale”, in Plays Two, page 94",
          "text": "Where is that sodding drink? I'm spitting feathers.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, M. Dylan Raskin, Little New York Bastard, page 202",
          "text": "I was just about spitting feathers. My throat was so dry and sore that I could barely feel my own tongue.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Peter Bond, Exodus: Earth Fights Back, page 135",
          "text": "“I've always liked camomile tea, and I'm spitting feathers after walking all the way over here. Nothing quenches the thirst like camomile tea.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To feel very thirsty."
      ],
      "id": "en-spit_feathers-en-verb-oWmafxFE",
      "links": [
        [
          "thirsty",
          "thirsty"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To feel very thirsty."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "75 25",
          "sense": "to feel very thirsty",
          "word": "spit cotton"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Imogen Edwards-Jones, Anonymous, Fashion Babylon, page 19",
          "text": "He is high as a kite on Fair Trade espressos and spitting feathers that Ted Nicholls is apparently having some sort of comeback.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Jonathan Wright, Heretics: The Creation of Christianity from the Gnostics to the Modern Church, page 258",
          "text": "Yesterday's heresy—the sort of thing that made orthodox theologians spit feathers—becomes today's tourist attraction.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Tom Bennett, Teacher: Mastering the Art and Craft of Teaching, page 43",
          "text": "Spartan education was entirely geared to the sublimation of the individual to the state, the disintegration of the ego and its reorientation as an agent of Spartan civilization. Proponents of child-centred education would spit feathers, I imagine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To feel very angry; to sputter angrily."
      ],
      "id": "en-spit_feathers-en-verb-iBjaAcK1",
      "links": [
        [
          "angry",
          "angry"
        ],
        [
          "sputter",
          "sputter"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To feel very angry; to sputter angrily."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "20 80",
          "sense": "to feel very angry, to sputter angrily",
          "word": "spit nails"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-spit feathers.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-spit_feathers.ogg/En-au-spit_feathers.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-spit_feathers.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "spit feathers"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spits feathers",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spitting feathers",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spat feathers",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spit feathers",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spat feathers",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "spit<,,spat> feathers",
        "past2": "spit feathers",
        "past2_qual": "US"
      },
      "expansion": "spit feathers (third-person singular simple present spits feathers, present participle spitting feathers, simple past spat feathers or (US) spit feathers, past participle spat feathers)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Robert David MacDonald, “Salto Mortale”, in Plays Two, page 94",
          "text": "Where is that sodding drink? I'm spitting feathers.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, M. Dylan Raskin, Little New York Bastard, page 202",
          "text": "I was just about spitting feathers. My throat was so dry and sore that I could barely feel my own tongue.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Peter Bond, Exodus: Earth Fights Back, page 135",
          "text": "“I've always liked camomile tea, and I'm spitting feathers after walking all the way over here. Nothing quenches the thirst like camomile tea.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To feel very thirsty."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "thirsty",
          "thirsty"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To feel very thirsty."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Imogen Edwards-Jones, Anonymous, Fashion Babylon, page 19",
          "text": "He is high as a kite on Fair Trade espressos and spitting feathers that Ted Nicholls is apparently having some sort of comeback.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Jonathan Wright, Heretics: The Creation of Christianity from the Gnostics to the Modern Church, page 258",
          "text": "Yesterday's heresy—the sort of thing that made orthodox theologians spit feathers—becomes today's tourist attraction.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Tom Bennett, Teacher: Mastering the Art and Craft of Teaching, page 43",
          "text": "Spartan education was entirely geared to the sublimation of the individual to the state, the disintegration of the ego and its reorientation as an agent of Spartan civilization. Proponents of child-centred education would spit feathers, I imagine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To feel very angry; to sputter angrily."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "angry",
          "angry"
        ],
        [
          "sputter",
          "sputter"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To feel very angry; to sputter angrily."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-spit feathers.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-spit_feathers.ogg/En-au-spit_feathers.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-spit_feathers.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "to feel very thirsty",
      "word": "spit cotton"
    },
    {
      "sense": "to feel very angry, to sputter angrily",
      "word": "spit nails"
    }
  ],
  "word": "spit feathers"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.