Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun featherbed

1 sense of featherbed

Sense 1
feather bed, featherbed -- (a mattress stuffed with feathers)
       => mattress -- (a large thick pad filled with resilient material and often incorporating coiled springs, used as a bed or part of a bed)

Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb featherbed

2 senses of featherbed

Sense 1
pamper, featherbed, cosset, cocker, baby, coddle, mollycoddle, spoil, indulge -- (treat with excessive indulgence; "grandparents often pamper the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!")
       => treat, handle, do by -- (interact in a certain way; "Do right by her"; "Treat him with caution, please"; "Handle the press reporters gently")

Sense 2
featherbed -- (hire more workers than are necessary)
       => hire, engage, employ -- (engage or hire for work; "They hired two new secretaries in the department"; "How many people has she employed?")