Dictionary

eiderdown en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From eider + down.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The down of the eider duck, used for stuffing pillows and quilts.
   • A great sea lifted us high and, crashing down with a deafening roar, carried us swiftly along on light foam as soft as eiderdown. 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 80:
2. (countable) A quilt stuffed with this down.
   • I entered. It was a very small room, overcrowded with furniture of the style which the French know as Louis Philippe. There was a large wooden bedstead on which was a billowing red eiderdown, and there was a large wardrobe, a round table, a very small washstand, and two stuffed chairs covered with red rep. 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 11”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
   • She jerked up in bed, clutching the eiderdown; her heart beat. What could it be? 1920, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Revelations”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 263:
   • The landlord was near spraining his wrist, and I told him for heaven’s sake to quit—the bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in the world could make eider down of a pine plank. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

Forms

Translations (31)

sv duntäcke (a quilt stuffed with this down) · hu lúdpehely (the down of the eider duck) · hu pehelypaplan (a quilt stuffed with this down) · pt edredom (a quilt stuffed with this down) · sv ejderdun (the down of the eider duck) · lb Diwwi (a quilt stuffed with this down) · is æðardúnn (the down of the eider duck) · da edderdunsdyne (a quilt stuffed with this down) · tr pufla tüyü yorgan (a quilt stuffed with this down) · cmn 鸭绒被 (the down of the eider duck) · ca cotonada (a quilt stuffed with this down) · fi haahkanuntuva (the down of the eider duck) · no ederdun (the down of the eider duck) · hu paplan (a quilt stuffed with this down) · hu lúdpihe (the down of the eider duck) · no ederdunsdyne (a quilt stuffed with this down) · fr édredon (the down of the eider duck) · pl pierzyna (a quilt stuffed with this down) · es edredón (a quilt stuffed with this down) · pl puch edredonowy (the down of the eider duck) · tr pufla tüyü (the down of the eider duck) · de Eiderdaune (the down of the eider duck) · bg пу́хен юрга́н (a quilt stuffed with this down) · fo æðudún (the down of the eider duck) · gl edredón (a quilt stuffed with this down) · ca edredó (a quilt stuffed with this down) · fr édredon (a quilt stuffed with this down) · da edderdun (the down of the eider duck) · hu dunyha (a quilt stuffed with this down) · fi untuvatäkki (a quilt stuffed with this down) · ru гага́чий пу́х (the down of the eider duck)