in high feather

in high feather

1. In high spirits; cheerful.
   • 1865, Dickens, Doctor Marigold:

     Next Saturday that come, I pitched the cart on the same pitch, and I was in very high feather indeed, keeping ’em laughing the whole of the time, and getting off the goods briskly.

   • 1883, Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. 18

     I ascended to the pilot-house in high feather, and very proud to be semi-officially a member of the executive family of so fast and famous a boat.