NIB (nib)
1.
The pointed end part of a quill pen
2.
Bird's beak
Common
clues: Pen point; Beak; Bird's beak; Pen end; Writer's point?;
Quill tip; The point of writing?; Pointed extremity; Writing tip;
Bill; Business end of a pen
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
4 times a year
Frequency
in English language:
45734 / 86800
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Video:
Making
a Quill Pen
A
quill pen is a writing implement made from a flight feather
(preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were
used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen,
metal-nibbed pens, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the
ballpoint pen. The hand-cut goose quill is still used as a
calligraphy tool as it provides a sharp stroke, and more
flexibility than does a steel pen. The shaft of the feather acts
as an ink reservoir and ink flows to the tip via capillary
action.
The
strongest quills come from the primary flight feathers taken from
living birds in the spring. The left wing is favored by the
right-handed majority of writers because the feathers curve out
to the right, away from the hand holding the pen. Goose feathers
are most commonly used; scarcer, more expensive swan feathers are
considered premium. Depending on availability and strength of the
feather, as well as quality/characteristic of the line wanted by
the writer, other feathers used for quill-pen making include
feathers from the crow, eagle, owl, hawk, and turkey. Often the
barbs are stripped off partially or completely to allow the
writer to grip the shaft more securely.
The
beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of
birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating
objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship and feeding
young. The term beak is also used to refer to a similar mouthpart
in some Ornithischian dinosaurs, monotremes, cephalopods,
cetaceans, pufferfishes, turtles, Anuran tadpoles and sirens. May
also be used to refer to the muzzle of the domestic dog, (Canis
lupus familiaris).
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Quill pen" and
“Beak”.
NIB
(139) 34
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