feather merchant

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English

Noun

feather merchant (plural feather merchants)

  1. (military slang) A civilian.
    • 1944, The Publishers Weekly - Volume 145, page 1193:
      But do you know that you are also a feather merchant-you and 120,000,000 other Americans? "Feather Merchants" is G.I. slang for civilians, and Max Shulman has done a book which points out why with a million irreverent, barbed laughs.
    • 1948, Infantry Journal - Volumes 62-63, page 24:
      One more point, the aide says, also, this Arthur Zooks is not only the general's high-school classmate, but is a Very Important Person —in Feather Merchant circles.
    • 1982, W. E. B. Griffin, Brotherhood of war, book 1: the lieutenants, page 151:
      "I think you're a goddamn feather merchant." When he saw that this had sort of stunned Lowell, he went on. "A word of advice, feather merchant: Don't try to take advantage of being the general's lady's golf pro and instructor in kraut."
    • 2016, Max Shulman, The Feather Merchants: A Novel:
      Every soldier knows that “feather merchants” means civilians, but few know why it does. The origins of the term are indeed cloaked in mystery.
  2. (military slang, by extension) Someone with a cushy job or without combat experience.
    • 1982, Infantry School (U.S.), United States Army Infantry School, United States Army Infantry School. Editorial and Pictorial Office, Infantry - Volumes 72-73:
      Everybody who works for a feather merchant knows where all the trouble is — at higher headquarters. At least, that's what the feather merchant says.
    • 2007, F.K. Milton, Fat Kid's War, page 9:
      What's wrong? You feather merchants can't handle the mission?
    • 2012, Chuck Tatum, Red Blood, Black Sand:
      Calling “Attention!,” our DI shouted, “That wasn't funny, you feather merchants!”
    • 2013, Richard C. Kirkland, Wide Place In The Road: A Great Generation Love Story, page 327:
      “All right you bunch of feather-merchants, let's get this show on the road!” barked a sergeant dressed in army olive drab.
    • 2014, James Hawkins, A Common Virtue: A Novel, page 61:
      Jackson figured fat REMFs to be the worst kind of feather merchants.
  3. (slang, by extension) Someone who does not do worthwhile work; someone who is more appearance than substance.
    • 1808, Satirist - Volume 3, page 362:
      This gentleman was bred a feather merchant, and plumes himself upon his eloquence; but, on the present occasion, “the down of his feelings” (as Mr. Bran; don elegantly expresses it) was considerably ruffled by the hooting of his auditors.
    • 1991, Martin L. Gibson, Editing in the Electronic Era, page 130:
      The mayor said he doesn't want "feather merchants" to sell their products near schools.
    • 2012, Dan Gillcrist, Ghost Boat, page 31:
      Well Sir, you mentioned having the city or the State Police crime lab do it. But I think that would take time and you may not want them reading it. My guess is that this is probably very personal stuff Sir, maybe those feather merchants shouldn't be reading it.
  4. (slang) A short man.
    • 1969, Alton Chester Morris, Southern Folklore Quarterly - Volume 33, page 314:
      A standard joke among painters is that, "(this or that) feather-merchant is so short he needs a step-ladder to paint the baseboard."
    • 2007, Neil Moloney, Class of Twenty-Eight:
      The shortest, or the "Feather Merchants," as the smaller men were so inappropriately designated, brought up the rear.
  5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see feather,‎ merchant. One who sells feathers.
    • 1859, A Gazetteer of the World:
      Both ivory and ostrich feathers have lost much of their commercial importance during late years; but there are still feather merchants at Mogador who are in communication with all the districts of the Desert where the bird is found.
    • 1926, Sir Jacob William Barth, Robert William Lyall Grant, The Laws of Kenya, page 1191:
      An ostrich farmer may sell to a feather merchant licensed under this Ordinance or may export from the Colony ostrich feathers obtained from domesticated ostriches kept by him.
    • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube, page 10:
      He was the son of an upholsterer and feather merchant of St Clement's Lane, London.
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