feather merchant
- Noun (slang, primarily US):
- A person who evades responsibility or avoids hard work: "feather merchant" refers to someone who shirks their duties, avoids strenuous tasks, or is habitually lazy.
- A malingerer or shirker: In informal usage, it describes someone who pretends to be ill or incapable to avoid work or obligations.
- (A person who avoids work or responsibility.)
- (Workers who were shirking their duties.)
"to be a feather merchant": to be lazy or evasive about work.
- Don't be a feather merchant; finish your assignment before the deadline. (Do not avoid your work; complete it on time.)
"feather merchant attitude": a disposition toward laziness or avoidance.
- His feather merchant attitude got him fired from three jobs. (His habit of shirking work led to termination.)
Featherbedding (n): the practice of creating unnecessary jobs or requiring workers to be paid for unneeded work.
- The union was accused of featherbedding to protect feather merchants. (Creating jobs that allow lazy workers to avoid real work.)
Merchant of fecklessness (rare phrase): a person who avoids responsibility (parallel to "feather merchant").
- Shirker: someone who avoids work or duty.
- Malingerer: someone who pretends to be ill to avoid work.
- Slacker: a person who avoids effort or responsibility.
- Lazybones: an informal term for a lazy person.
"to carry one's own weight": to do one's fair share of work (antonym of being a feather merchant).
- Unlike that feather merchant, she always carries her own weight. (She does her fair share.)
"to goof off": to waste time or avoid work.
- Stop goofing off and act like a feather merchant. (Ironic usage: meaning stop being lazy.)
The term "feather merchant" likely originated in US slang, possibly from the idea that a merchant of feathers deals in light, airy goods — symbolizing someone who deals in trivialities or avoids heavy work. It gained currency in mid-20th-century labor and military slang.