Many have soft feathers (4)
I believe the answer is:
down
'soft feathers' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'many have' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'd' ().
'have' becomes 'own' (to have something is to own it).
'd'+'own'='DOWN'
(Other definitions for down that I've seen before include "Immediately" , "Melancholy" , "Depressed - Irish county" , "Blue" , "See 10" .)