▪ I. † fletch, ? a. (or n. attrib.)
[cf. flig, etc.]
| 1704 Lond. Gaz., No. 4044/4 A..Mare about 14 hands and half..with..a long fletch Tail..and well in Case. |
▪ II. fletch, v.
(flɛtʃ)
[Perh. a corruption (due to association with fletcher) of fledge v. 4; though the latter has not been found earlier than 1796.]
trans. To fit (an arrow) with a feather; to feather. lit. and fig.
| 1635–56 Cowley Davideis ii. 91 Thy Darts are..Soft as the Feathers that they're fletch'd withal. 1760 Warburton Doctr. Grace ii. x, He dips his curses in the gall of irony; and..fletches them with a prophane classical Parody. 1845 J. Saunders Pict. Eng. Life, Chaucer 89 Arrows..fletched with the feathers of the goose. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xliii. 25 They fletched their complaint by adding: ‘America loved his brother’. |
▪ III. fletch
var. of flitch.