feather one's nest

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word feather one's nest. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word feather one's nest, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say feather one's nest in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word feather one's nest you have here. The definition of the word feather one's nest will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offeather one's nest, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

feather one's nest (third-person singular simple present feathers one's nest, present participle feathering one's nest, simple past and past participle feathered one's nest)

  1. (idiomatic) To achieve benefits, especially financial ones, by taking advantage of the opportunities with which one is presented; to amass a comfortable amount of personal wealth; especially, to do so to a degree that involves venality.
    Synonyms: line one's pockets, look out for number one
    Hypernym: enrich (oneself)
    • 1857, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Janet’s Repentance.] Chapter 13”, in Scenes of Clerical Life [...] In Two Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published January 1858, →OCLC, page 229:
      It may do him some harm, perhaps, but Dempster must have feathered his nest pretty well; he can afford to lose a little business.
    • 2024 July 20, Tabby Kinder, George Hammond, Hannah Murphy, Alex Rogers, quoting Michael Moritz, “Has Silicon Valley gone Maga?”, in FT Weekend, Big Read, page 6:
      “It's a handful of west coast financiers doing what Wall Street bankers have long done—feathering their nests,” says Michael Moritz, the billionaire former leader of Sequoia Capital.

Translations

See also

References