feather one's nest

English

Alternative forms

• feather one's own nest

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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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.
   • 1858, George Eliot, chapter 13, in Scenes of Clerical Life:

     Dempster must have feathered his nest pretty well; he can afford to lose a little business.

Synonyms

• (to achieve benefits, especially financial ones): enrich, line one's pockets, look out for number one

Translations

to achieve benefits, especially financial ones

• Finnish: täyttää taskujaan
• Icelandic: (to poke fire to one's cake) skara eld að eigin köku, (to poke fire to one's cake) skara eld að sinni köku, ota sínum tota
• Russian: (to warm one's hands) нагре́ть ру́ки pf (nagrétʹ rúki), (to stuff one's pockets) наби́ть карма́ны pf (nabítʹ karmány)
• Walloon: (to fatten one's fingers) s' ecråxhî les doets (wa)
• Welsh: pluo ei nyth

See also

• every man for himself
• featherbed
• nest egg

References

• “feather one's nest”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.