A thin layer or membrane, especially a bird's shed skin or the papery sheath that forms on a bird's leg.
From Scots English and Northern English dialects, possibly related to Old Norse 'bliff' (membrane). The word is primarily Scottish and appears in natural history contexts, particularly in ornithology.
Bird watchers use 'blype' to describe the delicate, papery layer that molting birds shed—it's such a specific, technical word that you'd never guess it came from old Scots dialect, showing how regional language can capture very precise natural observations!
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