feather one's nest
/ˈfɛð.əɹ wʌnz ˌnɛst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.48 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
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 (e.g., insider trading, police corruption).
Example Sentences
- "It may do him some harm, perhaps, but Dempster must have feathered his nest pretty well; he can afford to lose a little business."
- "But it would be very unjust to think of all the Railway Members as speculators and simply out to feather their own nests, not that it is fair to think of George Hudson in this light alone."
- "“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."
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɛð.əɹ wʌnz ˌnɛst/
- British English: /ˈfɛð.ə wʌnz ˌnɛst/