As a verb, to check out library books that one has no interest in reading so as to create a false impression of demand. From the novella Bellwether, by ConnieWillis, where the protagonist routinely checks out copies of classic literature that she has already read, and frequently owns, after finding that the library was discarding copies of Dickens because of a lack of circulation. Similar to phyrangulation/freeping, but offline.
I only picked up Ragged Dick because I was bellwethering at the beginning of the alphabet, but I got bored and started reading it, and now I've got the rest of Alger's stuff on hold.
A person who wears a bullfeather is a person whose wife or girlfriend has cheated on him. The term comes from the "horns" on a cuckold -- the horn being the closest thing a bull has to a feather.
Just about any joke involving horns was considered hilariously funny through the 19th century, because everyone knew it meant the guy was a fool who was being cheated on -- the worst social disgrace for a man of that era.
John's wife is having an affair with Peter Quincy -- can't you see the bullfeathers on his head
Richard's girl sleeps with every guy in town. What a bullfeather he is!