feather vs wire

feather

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

  • 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"). 

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

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

  • 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. 

wire

noun
  • The slender shaft of the plumage of certain birds. 

  • Any of the system of wires used to operate the puppets in a puppet show; hence, the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization; strings. 

  • A piece of such material; a thread or slender rod of metal, a cable. 

  • A knitting needle. 

  • Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die. 

  • A telecommunication wire or cable. 

  • An electric telegraph; a telegram. 

  • A hidden listening device on the person of an undercover operative for the purposes of obtaining incriminating spoken evidence. 

  • A fence made of usually barbed wire. 

  • A deadline or critical endpoint. 

  • A metal conductor that carries electricity. 

  • A finish line of a racetrack. 

  • A wire strung with beads and hung horizontally above or near the table which is used to keep score. 

  • A covert signal sent between people cheating in a card game. 

verb
  • To send a message or monetary funds to another person through a telecommunications system, formerly predominantly by telegraph. 

  • To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot. 

  • To fasten with wire, especially with reference to wine bottles, corks, or fencing. 

  • To set or predetermine (someone's personality or behaviour, or an organization's culture) in a particular way. 

  • To string on a wire. 

  • To add (something) into a system (especially an electrical system) by means of wiring. 

  • To snare by means of a wire or wires. 

  • To install eavesdropping equipment. 

  • To make someone tense or psyched up. See also adjective wired. 

  • To connect, involve or embed (something) deeply or intimately into (something else, such as an organization or political scene), so that it is plugged in (to that thing) (“keeping up with current information about (the thing)”) or has insinuated itself into (the thing). 

  • To add or connect (something) into a system as if with wires (for example, with nerves). 

  • To equip with wires for use with electricity. 

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