feather bed

American  

noun

1. a mattress or a bed cover, as a quilt, stuffed with soft feathers.

---

feather bed British  

noun

1. a mattress filled with feathers or down

---

verb

1. (tr) to pamper; spoil

2. (intr) to be subject to or engage in featherbedding

Etymology

Origin of feather bed

before 1000; Middle English, Old English

Example Sentences

Serenading the car in the movie’s earworm, Oscar-nominated title song, she sings, “You’re sleek as a thoroughbred / Your seats are a feather bed / You’ll turn everybody’s head today.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 23, 2021

“Wallflower” was produced and arranged by the megahit maker David Foster, whose lush but static string arrangements, written by William Ross, couch each song on a soft feather bed.

From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2015

Each song tosses another blanket atop a feather bed, another log on a fire, a series of stories to send the imagination drifting as winter closes in.

From Chicago Tribune • Nov. 18, 2011

If I go to England they will put me in a feather bed and I will be asphyxiated.

From Time Magazine Archive

He woke naked on a goose-down feather bed so soft it felt as if he had been swallowed by a cloud.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin