A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

feather bed • feather-bedding
feather bed —said of a markedly easy and comfortable state
or position: Feather beds for farmers have been a feature of
post-war Europe.
feather-bedding —the employment of excess staff, usually
under a union rule: Feather bedding has come about as a con-
sequence of workers being laid off because of technological
change.
feed off something • feed on something
feed off something —
1
. use smth. as food: Blacktip sharks are
reef sharks; they feed off fish living in the coral, and are not
interested in big mammals. 2. use smth. to advantage (usually
with negative implication): They feed off our desire to smoke
and the miseries of our lives that caused most of us to start
smoking.
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feed off something

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feed on something —eat certain food as one’s regular diet:
These sharks are bottom dwellers, in nature they feed on fish
and shellfish that they suck out of the sand.
feed one’s pussy • feed the kitty
feed one’s pussy —(coarse sl., of a woman) have sex or practice
cunnilingus: I watch the screen as a hot blonde feeds her pussy
to some lucky guy.
feed the kitty —(U.S. sl.) contribute money: Come on, Bill.
Feed the kitty. You can afford a dollar for a good cause.
feed someone on something • feed someone with
something
feed someone on something —habitually give a person smth.
as food: They feed me on roast-beef and Yorkshire pud-
ding.
feed someone with something —
1
. give a person smth. to eat
at a particular time: She was feeding the baby with porridge
when we entered. 2. = feed someone on something: The boy
would not eat any cooked meat. The Indians had to feed him
with raw meat just like the coyotes had fed him. 3. (Theater)
supply an actor with cues: Stanley Kubrick himself would
sometimes feed the actors with their prompts.