feather vs flipper

feather

verb
  • To rotate the oars while they are out of the water to reduce wind resistance. 

  • To cover or furnish with feathers; (when of an arrow) to fletch. 

  • To intergrade or blend the pixels of an image with those of a background or neighboring image. 

  • To adorn, as if with feathers; to fringe. 

  • To render light as a feather; to give wings to. 

  • To arrange in the manner or appearance of feathers. 

  • Of written or printed ink: to take on a blurry appearance as a result of spreading through the receiving medium. 

  • To enrich; to exalt; to benefit. 

  • To streamline the blades of an aircraft's propeller by rotating them perpendicular to the axis of the propeller when the engine is shut down so that the propeller does not windmill during flight. 

  • To touch lightly, like (or as if with) a feather. 

  • To finely shave or bevel an edge. 

  • To tread, as a cockerel. 

  • To move the cue back and forth along the bridge in preparation for striking the cue ball. 

  • To accidentally touch the cue ball with the tip of the cue when taking aim. 

  • To move softly, like a feather. 

noun
  • A junction indicator attached to a colour-light signal at an angle, which lights up, typically with four white lights in a row, when a diverging route is set up. 

  • One of the two shims of the three-piece stone-splitting tool known as plug and feather or plug and feathers; the feathers are placed in a borehole and then a wedge is driven between them, causing the stone to split. 

  • Partridges and pheasants, as opposed to rabbits and hares (called fur). 

  • One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow. 

  • A longitudinal strip projecting from an object to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sideways but permit motion lengthwise; a spline. 

  • Anything petty or trifling; a whit or jot. 

  • The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water. 

  • Kind; nature; species (from the proverbial phrase "birds of a feather"). 

  • A branching, hair-like structure that grows on the bodies of birds, used for flight, swimming, protection and display. 

  • Long hair on the lower legs of a dog or horse, especially a draft horse, notably the Clydesdale breed. Narrowly only the rear hair. 

flipper

verb
  • To lift one or both flippers out of the water and slap the surface of the water. 

noun
  • Television remote control, clicker. 

  • A type of ball bowled by a leg spin bowler, which spins backwards and skids off the pitch with a low bounce. 

  • A flat lever in a pinball machine, triggered by the player to strike the ball and keep it in play. 

  • A kind of false tooth, usually temporary. 

  • A small flat used to support a larger one. 

  • Someone who flips, in the sense of buying a house or other asset and selling it quickly for profit. 

  • Someone who flips in any other sense, for example throwing a coin. 

  • In marine mammals such as whales, a wide flat limb, adapted for swimming. 

  • A flat, wide, paddle-like rubber covering for the foot, used in swimming. 

  • A kitchen spatula. 

How often have the words feather and flipper occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )