bastard wing

2 definitions found

bastard wing - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Bastard \Bas"tard\, a.
     1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate.
        See Bastard, n., note.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; --
        applied to things which resemble those which are genuine,
        but are really not so.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That bastard self-love which is so vicious in
              itself, and productive of so many vices. --Barrow.
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     3. Of an unusual or irregular make or proportion; as, a
        bastard musket; a bastard culverin. [Obs.]
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     4. (Print.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page
        preceding the full title page of a book.
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     Bastard ashlar (Arch.), stones for ashlar work, roughly
        squared at the quarry.
  
     Bastard file, a file intermediate between the coarsest and
        the second cut.
  
     Bastard type (Print.), type having the face of a larger or
        a smaller size than the body; e. g., a nonpareil face on a
        brevier body.
  
     Bastard wing (Zool.), three to five quill feathers on a
        small joint corresponding to the thumb in some mammalia;
        the alula.
        [1913 Webster]

bastard wing - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  bastard wing
      n 1: tuft of small stiff feathers on the first digit of a bird's
           wing [syn: bastard wing, alula, spurious wing]