Cities with similar population. Source: The Lindenhurst, NY weather data displayed above is derived from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric). Air quality and pollution data is derived from the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency).
â¢ QUILL (noun). The noun QUILL has 4 senses: 1. pen made from a bird's feather. 2. a stiff hollow protective spine on a porcupine or hedgehog. 3. any of the larger wing or tail feathers of a bird. 4. the hollow spine of a feather. Familiarity information: QUILL used as a noun is uncommon.
The name for a male swan is a cob. I believe that the pen knife was used to sharpen quills as you have explained, but the writing implement was called a quill, not a pen. The name penknife came to be because the best quills for writing came from a young male swan and young male swans are called pens..