she feathered her own nest
she accumulated money for herself in a dubious way
TRANSLATION
feather your own nest = sich bereichern, in die eigene Tasche wirtschaften --- GOOGLE INDEX feather your own nest: approximately 150,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Italy's richest man is accused by his critics of passing bills to FEATHER HIS OWN NEST.
(BBC News)
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"People hate the idea of public officials FEATHERING THEIR OWN NESTS at the expense of the people."
(The Republic)
(BBC News)
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"People hate the idea of public officials FEATHERING THEIR OWN NESTS at the expense of the people."
(The Republic)
Did you
know?
feather one's own nest
idiom
- make money for oneself in an opportunistic or selfish way
(Oxford English Dictionary)
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It doesn't take much imagination to understand where the expression "feather your own nest" originated. When building nests, most species of birds use their own feathers to build a nest, while others are a bit more unscrupulous and rely on the feathers of other birds.
Here are some other ways to use feather in common idiomatic expressions:
- feather in one's cap = an honour or a reward for something (The promotion was a feather in his cap)
- ruffle someone's feathers = to irritate or annoy someone (You really ruffled his feathers by criticising the way he played that song)
- tar and feather someone = to punish someone (The fans wanted to tar and feather the team after losing the match)
- birds of a feather flock together = people of the same sort or with the same tastes and interests will be found together (We need to specify the table seating otherwise as usual, birds of a feather will flock together)
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SYNONYMS
to line one's pockets
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Many scandals involve the feathering his own nest."
idiom
- make money for oneself in an opportunistic or selfish way
(Oxford English Dictionary)
---
It doesn't take much imagination to understand where the expression "feather your own nest" originated. When building nests, most species of birds use their own feathers to build a nest, while others are a bit more unscrupulous and rely on the feathers of other birds.
Here are some other ways to use feather in common idiomatic expressions:
- feather in one's cap = an honour or a reward for something (The promotion was a feather in his cap)
- ruffle someone's feathers = to irritate or annoy someone (You really ruffled his feathers by criticising the way he played that song)
- tar and feather someone = to punish someone (The fans wanted to tar and feather the team after losing the match)
- birds of a feather flock together = people of the same sort or with the same tastes and interests will be found together (We need to specify the table seating otherwise as usual, birds of a feather will flock together)
---
SYNONYMS
to line one's pockets
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Many scandals involve the feathering his own nest."
