n.a
reference to a small container for
holding ink. A quill is a feather, as of a goose, that has had its shaft sharpened and slit at the end to
form a
pen. To write with such, the quill is dipped directly into the ink in the quill
pot. Quills were the
principal writing instruments from the sixth century until the midnineteenth century when
steel point pens took their
place.