Bastard wing

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
bastard wing
    n 1: tuft of small stiff feathers on the first digit of a bird's
         wing [syn: {bastard wing}, {alula}, {spurious wing}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Bastard \Bas"tard\, a.
   1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate.
      See {Bastard}, n., note.
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   2. Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; --
      applied to things which resemble those which are genuine,
      but are really not so.
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            That bastard self-love which is so vicious in
            itself, and productive of so many vices. --Barrow.
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   3. Of an unusual or irregular make or proportion; as, a
      bastard musket; a bastard culverin. [Obs.]
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   4. (Print.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page
      preceding the full title page of a book.
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   {Bastard ashlar} (Arch.), stones for ashlar work, roughly
      squared at the quarry.

   {Bastard file}, a file intermediate between the coarsest and
      the second cut.

   {Bastard type} (Print.), type having the face of a larger or
      a smaller size than the body; e. g., a nonpareil face on a
      brevier body.

   {Bastard wing} (Zool.), three to five quill feathers on a
      small joint corresponding to the thumb in some mammalia;
      the alula.
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