How to Use quill in a Sentence

quill

noun
  • Place the bundle on top of the fly with the quill end over the hook eye.
    — Aleta Burchyski, Outside Online, 20 May 2020
  • Could be like a porcupine quill, right?
    — Quanta Magazine, 21 Aug. 2025
  • But those days seem as distant as when bills were written with quill pens.
    — Carl Hulse, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2023
  • Ripped apart like thick alabaster pages and bleeding like ink from a quill.
    — Halsey, Billboard, 20 June 2017
  • All of them are quill-like from base to tip and the arm feathers are just as long as the tail ones.
    — Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 28 Apr. 2010
  • The quill forms a few letters, then pauses and scratches them out.
    — Maia Silber, chicagotribune.com, 8 July 2017
  • The story starts with Matlack’s tools—a quill dipped in iron gall ink.
    — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, 3 July 2020
  • Full-quill ostrich has a unique texture, known for being durable yet soft.
    — Danny Perez, Popular Mechanics, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Dark wood desks were filled with letters ready to be mailed, addressed using quill and ink.
    — Willa Paskin, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2017
  • Think of Dickens and piles of foolscap and quill pens and Bob Cratchit.
    — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 4 July 2019
  • Porcupettes are born with soft quills that start to harden and sharpen over a few days.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, 11 July 2018
  • Cho also found that the barbs increase the force needed to remove the quill by four times.
    — Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 11 Dec. 2012
  • And Penelope once again picks up her quill, despite Eloise's fury.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 21 Dec. 2023
  • The rest of the body will look like it is covered in primitive, quill-like feathers.
    — Jordan C. Axelson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 23 June 2017
  • Patterns were used for clothing designs, beadwork and quill work.
    — Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2021
  • So, the feather, which looks like a quill, is a sign that Penelope is the writer all along.
    — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 22 Feb. 2021
  • The quill might be ornamental, but work certainly gets done at that desk.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 16 Sep. 2021
  • Awl with a man Artists would have used the tool to poke holes, embroider, make baskets and for quill work.
    — Domenica Bongiovanni, Indianapolis Star, 4 Sep. 2019
  • What ensues among them becomes a picaresque of sorts, arrayed in quills and cashmere.
    — Wesley Morris, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2023
  • To create quills, frame the face by pressing toothpicks into the rind, leaving enough space for eyes.
    — Woman's Day Staff, Woman's Day, 25 July 2018
  • Even the cover image of a boy with a quill across his face adds to the ambiguity.
    — Diane Scharper, National Review, 20 Aug. 2020
  • For the vase Carrousel, a purple quill mum, is an elegant cut flower.
    — The Editors, Good Housekeeping, 9 Aug. 2018
  • Depending on the species, porcupine quills can grow back within months of being shed.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
  • Under normal conditions, the quills lie flat against the body of a porcupine.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
  • The floor was going to be like parchment paper, and there would be a huge quill that people could climb on, like a ship's ladder.
    — Devin Alessio, ELLE Decor, 11 June 2016
  • On the right side, the heraldic design shows a songbird flanking a blue shield with quills, all surrounded by flowers.
    — Elise Taylor, Vogue, 29 May 2018
  • Nevertheless, horses were stolen, and poor people were hanged for stealing them – or a quill pen or a bolt of cloth.
    — David P. Barash, The Conversation, 12 Jan. 2021
  • Pluck the small feathers from the underside of the wing to reveal the quills of the primary feathers.
    — Dave Hurteau, Field & Stream, 29 June 2023
  • The hedgehog's quills are a dark brown shade closer to the animal's body before lightening at the edges.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 8 May 2023
  • Hana has a habit of picking up feathers to give to the village chief, who makes them into quills to pluck at the strings of a harpsichord.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 4 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quill.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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