ˈfeather-ˈbed
1. A bed stuffed with feathers.
| c 1000 ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 124 Culcites, feþerbed. c 1275 Lay. 17443 For nou ȝe mawe heom hebbe ase feþer⁓beddes. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 251 Of downe of pure dowves whyte I wil yive him a fether-bed. 1480 Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 130 Beddes called federbeddes stuffed with downe with their bolsters v. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 445 All fedder beddis forbiddin wes also. 1648 Prynne Plea for Lords 37 The Duke..was smothered to death with a featherbed. 1749 Wesley Acc. School Kingswood 6 All their Beds have Mattresses on them, not Feather-beds. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, Make interest with your feather⁓bed till day-break. |
| fig. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iii. viii. 134 Such bolsters and huge featherbeds of Promotion. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 328 He has smothered the..simplicity of Chaucer under feather-beds of verbiage. 1952 Economist 16 Aug. 386 Feather beds for farmers have been a feature of post-war Europe. |
2. a. The Willow Warbler (
Phylloscopus trochilus); also of the Whitethroat (
Motacilla sylvia).
| 1854 Baker Gloss. Northampton I. 224 Featherbed, the White-throat. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 26 Willow warbler..Feather bed (Oxon). |
b. pl. (sing. constr.). A stonewort (genus
Chara); a bed of stoneworts.
| 1807 F. Pursh Jrnl. Bot. Excursion 4 Aug. (1923) 50 The Creek was coverd at its bottom with Chara, which the boatmen call Feather beds. 1851 A. Wood Class-Bk. Bot. (ed. 23) ii. 637 C[hara] vulgaris... Feather-beds... It appears in dense tufts, like a soft bed, undulating with the motion of the water. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib., as
featherbed-campaigner,
feather-bed-captain,
feather-bed job,
feather-bed landing,
feather-bed practice,
feather-bed rule,
feather-bed-soldier,
feather-bed treatment,
feather-bed-warrior;
b. objective, as
featherbed-maker. Also
featherbed-lane,
slang (see
quot.).
| 1888 Times (weekly ed.) 2 Nov. 8/3 We want no *feather⁓bed campaigners. |
| 1692 Hickeringill Good Old Cause Wks. 1716 II. 529 Is it because some *Feather-bed Captains sell such Ware? |
| 1938 San Francisco Examiner 3 June 25/1 But he does feel that ‘*featherbed jobs’..should be abolished. |
| 1942 A. M. Low Parachutes xi. 201 The most comfortable landing is said to be in a young plantation of pines... The firemen..call these ‘*featherbed landings’. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Feather⁓bed-lane, any bad Road. |
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 9 Bed-makers, *federbed makers, and wyre drawers. |
| 1922 L. F. Loree Railroad Freight Transportation vii. 625 The annual cost of these so-called ‘*feather-bed’ practices. |
| 1934 Railway Age XCVII. 858/2 Restrictive rules, sometimes called ‘*featherbed rules’. |
| 1837 Major Richardson Brit. Legion i. (ed. 2) 20 Our position..has certainly not been that of *feather-bed soldiers. |
| 1958 Times Rev. Industry Sept. 98/1 Strange to give some industries ‘*feather-bed’ treatment. |
| 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxiii. 325 Each *feather⁓bed warrior who rides from Knightsbridge to Whitehall. |