feather merchants

Noun

feather merchant (plural feather merchants)

1. (slang) A civilian.
   • But do you know that you are also a feather merchant-you and 120,000,000 other Americans? "Feather Merchants" is G.I. slang for civilians, and Max Shulman has done a book which points out why with a million irreverent, barbed laughs.1944, The Publishers Weekly - Volume 145, page 1193
2. (broadly, slang) Someone with a cushy job or without combat experience.
   • Everybody who works for a feather merchant knows where all the trouble is — at higher headquarters. At least, that's what the feather merchant says.1982, Infantry School (U.S.), United States Army Infantry School, United States Army Infantry School. Editorial and Pictorial Office, Infantry - Volumes 72-73
3. (broadly, slang) Someone who does not do worthwhile work; someone who is more appearance than substance.
   • This gentleman was bred a feather merchant, and plumes himself upon his eloquence; but, on the present occasion, “the down of his feelings” (as Mr. Bran; don elegantly expresses it) was considerably ruffled by the hooting of his auditors.1808, Satirist - Volume 3, page 362
4. (slang) A short man.
   • A standard joke among painters is that, "(this or that) feather-merchant is so short he needs a step-ladder to paint the baseboard."1969, Alton Chester Morris, Southern Folklore Quarterly - Volume 33, page 314
5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see feather, merchant. One who sells feathers.
   • Both ivory and ostrich feathers have lost much of their commercial importance during late years; but there are still feather merchants at Mogador who are in communication with all the districts of the Desert where the bird is found.1859, A Gazetteer of the World