Featherbed (Verb)
Meaning 1
Hire more workers than are necessary.
Classification
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing.
Hypernyms
Meaning 2
Treat with excessive indulgence; "grandparents often pamper the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!".
Classification
Verbs of political and social activities and events.
Examples
- Her parents featherbed her so much that she grew up expecting everything to be handed to her on a silver platter.
- The government was criticized for featherbedding the industry with excessive subsidies and tax breaks.
- The manager was accused of featherbedding his favorite employee by giving him all the easy tasks.
- She learned to be independent after her parents stopped featherbedding her and she had to take care of herself.
- The new law aims to reduce featherbedding in government contracts by introducing stricter accountability measures.