How to use quill in a sentence

32 example sentences · noun, verb

Quill means the lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs. Example: “He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.”

Examples of quill by meaning

nounAny pen.

He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.

nounSomething having the form of a quill, such as the fold or plain of a ruff, or (weaving) a spindle, or spool, upon which...

His hair still stood up in punk-rock quills and spikes.1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger

nounA quill drive, having a hollow shaft with another movable shaft inside it.

The motors are attached to the bogie frames so as to be fully springborne, and drive through quills and flexible couplings to the wheels.1952 September, “A Landmark in French Electrification”, in Railway Magazine, page 593

verbTo pierce with quills. (Usually in the passive voice, as be quilled or get quilled.).

Coyotes, bears, and mountain lions which occasionally kill porcupines are sometimes quilled.1966, David Francis Costello, The World of the Porcupine, J. B. Lippincott & Company, page 66
Then one of my dogs got quilled, and it happened again a month later.2010, Mark Parman, A Grouse Hunter's Almanac: The Other Kind of Hunting, University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 49

verbTo write.

Nibs never would have quilled a seriph to sheepskin.1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC...
One has only to recall that Coleridge and Wordsworth one day were lounging by the sea shore, while nearby sat an English police agent on snitch patrol prepared to rush to headquarters to quill a report about the conversation.1976, Ed Sanders, Investigative Poetry, City Lights, published 1976, page 11

verbTo decorate with quillwork.

Although men and women sometimes cooperated, women usually painted or quilled very balanced, controlled geometric designs on dresses, moccasins, robes, bags, and containers.2007, David J. Wishart, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians, University of Nebraska Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 32

verbTo subject (a woman who is giving birth) to the practice of quilling (blowing pepper into her nose to induce or hasten...

For quotations using this term, see Citations:quill.

More sentences with quill

No porcupine can throw its quills, but they detach easily and will remain embedded in an attacker.2011, John P. Rafferty, Rats, Bats, and Xenarthrans, page 113. From the entry porcupine
It's good that I wasn't a wereporcupine, or his mouth would be full of quills.2011, Ilona Andrews, "Magic Dreams", Hexed, Penguin, →ISBN. From the entry wereporcupine
He collects his penner that holds his writing quills, his knife, and his horn tube containing ink.2008, Robert Hull, Merchant, page 16. From the entry penner
At least one squirrel death has been reported from a porcupine quill in the chest cavity.1995 October 22, Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, Ariz., page 4. From the entry sciuricide
Quill turned a key with a loud, wrenchy sound and dragged the door open.1981, Manly Wade Wellman, The lost and the lurking, page 123. From the entry wrenchy
"Goos quills simply do not suffice! their leader said.c. 2015-2016, Wilyem Clark, Umber Apostle, page 45. From the entry horsefeather
A quilled lionfish was face to face with a saurian moray eel, sizing it up before swimming on.2011, Alesa Corrin, Jonathan: The Griffin Prince, AuthorHouse, published 2011, →ISBN, page 234. From the entry quilled
“All he has to do is slide some paper in there, ink the quill and crank the handle”2008, Brad Thor, The Last Patriot, Atria Books. From the entry crank the handle
Although porcupines lack the ability to throw their quills, they do have the capacity to raise and lower them at will.2000, Warner Shedd, “A “Pig,” Perhaps, but Not a Hog: The Porcupine”, in Owls Aren’t Wise & Bats Aren’t Blind: A Naturalist Debunks Our…. From the entry porky
When threatened, a porky elevates its quills so that it bristles like some sort of mammalian cactus with giant spines.2000, Warner Shedd, “A “Pig,” Perhaps, but Not a Hog: The Porcupine”, in Owls Aren’t Wise & Bats Aren’t Blind: A Naturalist Debunks Our…. From the entry porky
The age of computers has outdated the quill forever.1998, Dovid Rossoff, Where Heaven Touches Earth, page iii. From the entry outdate
He's got more dough than a porkypine has quills.1988 December 23, Lawrence Bommer, “Joads' Night Out”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry porkypine
“Have you sampled the pure quill, Tull?”1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug. From the entry pure quill
Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair.2011, John P. Rafferty, Rats, Bats, and Xenarthrans, page 113. From the entry porcupine
They made their ink from lamp-black and gum-solution, their pens — used brushwise at first, but later cut like quills — from rushes.1993, Thomas Kingston Derry, Trevor Illtyd Williams, A short history of technology: from the earliest times to A.D. 1900. From the entry brushwise
Two quills project over his ears.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses. From the entry pschent
He insensibly began to alter his appearance; his cravat seemed quilled into a ruff, and his breeches swelled out into a farlingale.1909, Henry C. Shelley, Inns and Taverns of Old London, L.C. Page and Company. From the entry quilled
Quill stood at the railing and watched the bird slowly fade into the distance, swooping gloriously under bridges, its downstriking wingtips all but flicking the water.2013, Roger Levy, Icarus, →ISBN. From the entry downstrike
He'd cited Rabbi This from Cracow and Rabbi That from Vilna, till apparently the Great Developer looked like nothing so much as a bull quilled with banotilleros.1972, Brian Glanville, The Financiers, page 128. From the entry blind with science
A web of skin grew from his wrists to his shoulders, while his primary feathers burst out in soft quills from the end of his fingers and quickly grew.1958, T.H.White, The Once and Future King. From the entry false primary
Challenges are flying right and left between these bully-swordsmen, these spadassinicides, and poor devils of the robe who have never learnt to fence with anything but a quill.1921, Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche. From the entry fence
Make your own marking tools (pencils and pens that have been produced industrially are not allowed), for instance it is possible to use drinking-straws or stirrers cut into quill pens.2011, Marco Frascari, Eleven Exercises in the Art of Architectural Drawing: Slow Food for the Architect’s Imagination, London; New York…. From the entry drinking-straw
In this way, quilling arts were integral to band organization and cooperation, and functioned both within and between households as items of ceremonial exchange (i.e., "crosscutting" private and public domains).1998, Tressa L. Berman, “Chapter 4: The Community as Worksite: American Indian Women's Artistic Production”, in Ann E. Kingsolver, editor…. From the entry quilling

Meaning of quill

noun The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.
noun A pen made from a feather.
noun Any pen.

Full definition of quill

Questions about quill in a sentence

How do you use quill in a sentence?: Quill is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.”
What is a short sentence with quill?: “Two quills project over his ears.”
What does quill mean?: Quill means the lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.

Adapted from Wiktionary: quill (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use quill in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/quill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.