feather merchant

American  

noun

Older Slang.

1. a person who avoids responsibility and effort; loafer.

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Etymology

Origin of feather merchant

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

That was enough to get Manhattan's Murray Sears, big U.S. feather merchant, to book passage to South Africa last week to buy up all the fine feathers he could find.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was flying Old John Feather Merchant barely under the thick cloud layer.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the streets below, pedestrians startled by the low-flying craft looked up, saw Old John Feather Merchant barely miss a 60-floor building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

From Time Magazine Archive

In order also to be quite certain of the place where his Grace had laid up all the herons' feathers of that season, Johann proposed that the miller, Konnemann, should visit his Grace at Zachan, giving out that he was a feather merchant from Berlin.

From Project Gutenberg

The Duke received Konnemann very graciously, when he found that he was a wealthy feather merchant from Berlin, who, having heard of the number and extent of his Grace's gardens at Zachan, had come to purchase all the last year's gathering of feathers.

From Project Gutenberg