Adjacent Words

featherbed definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a mattress stuffed with feathers [syn: feather bed, featherbed] v
1: treat with excessive indulgence; "grandparents often pamper the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!" [syn: pamper, featherbed, cosset, cocker, baby, coddle, mollycoddle, spoil, indulge]
2: hire more workers than are necessary

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Date: 1938 calling for, sanctioning, or resulting from featherbedding <a featherbed rule> <a featherbed job> II. verb Date: 1949 intransitive verb 1. a. to require that more workers be hired than are needed b. to limit production under a featherbed rule 2. to do featherbed work or put in time under a featherbed rule transitive verb 1. to bring under a featherbed rule 2. to assist (as an industry) by government aid