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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: 2 times a year
Frequency in English language: 45734 / 86800
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”.