quilly

English

Etymology

From quill +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪli/
• Rhymes: -ɪli

Adjective

quilly (comparative more quilly, superlative most quilly)

1. Pertaining to or resembling a quill. [from 16th c.]
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, section XXXVIII:

     The fabrick of the wing, as it appears through a moderately magnifying Microscope, seems to be a body consisting of two parts […]; the one is a quilly or finny substance, consisting of several long, slender and variously bended quills or wires, something resembling the veins of leaves […].

2. With quills; quilled. [from 18th c.]
   • 2005, Jean M. Thompson, Wild Kindred of Fur, Feather and Fin, page 79:

     […] sometimes you may even run across a quilly ball lying right on top of the ledge, or catch one of the numerous porcupine family picking its way leisurely among the rocks.