Definition of "dowle"

dowle

/ˈdaʊl/

noun
1. feathery or woolly down; filament of a feather
  Quotations
  You fools! I and my fellows Are ministers of fate: the elements Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish One dowle that's in my plume; […]
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]
  No feather, or dowle of a feather, but was heavy enough for him.
  a. 1859, De Quincey, Notes on Godwin Foster and Hazlitt, at page 304 in the collected works' volume of 1864.