skara eld að eigin köku

Icelandic

Alternative forms

• skara eld að eigin köku

Etymology

From skara (“poke fire”) + eld, the accusative of eldur (“fire”) + að (“to”) + sinni the dative singular of sinn (“one's own”) + köku, the dative of kaka (“cake”). Literally meaning "to poke fire to one's own cake".

Verb

skara eld að sinni köku (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative skaraði eld að sinni köku, supine skarað eld að sinni köku)

1. (idiomatic) to feather one's own nest, to feather one's nest, to look out for number one

Synonyms

• (to look out for number one): ota sínum tota

See also

• bera sig eftir björginni