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nest

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The definition of a nest is a structure where some creatures lay their eggs and keep their young safe and warm, or a place in which to live or rest.

(noun)

An example of a nest is where baby birds live.

Nest is defined as to live in a safe place like where a mother bird keeps her young.

(verb)

An example of nest is for a turtle to make a living space for her growing young.

See nest in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

the structure made or the place chosen by birds for laying their eggs and sheltering their young
1. the place used by turtles, hornets, fish, etc. for spawning or breeding
2. the structure made or the place chosen by any of certain wild animals as its home: a squirrel's nest
a cozy or snug place in which to live or rest; retreat
1. a haunt or den: used esp. in an unfavorable sense
2. the people who frequent such a place: a nest of criminals
a brood, swarm, or colony of birds, insects, etc.
a set or series of similar things, each fitting within the one next larger

Origin: ME < OE, akin to Ger nest < IE *nizdos (< base *ni-, down + *sed-, to sit) > L nidus, Welsh nyth

intransitive verb

to build or live in or as in a nest
to fit one into another
to hunt for birds' nests: usually in the present participle

transitive verb

to make a nest for
to place or settle in or as in a nest
to fit (an object) closely within another
Comput. to embed (a loop, subroutine, etc.) between the first and last instructions of another

Related Forms:

nestable adjective

See nest in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. A container or shelter made by a bird out of twigs, grass, or other material to hold its eggs and young.
b. A similar structure in which fish, insects, or other animals deposit eggs or keep their young.
c. A place in which young are reared; a lair.
d. A number of insects, birds, or other animals occupying such a place: a nest of hornets.
A place affording snug refuge or lodging; a home.
a. A place or environment that fosters rapid growth or development, especially of something undesirable; a hotbed: a nest of criminal activity.
b. Those who occupy or frequent such a place or environment.
a. A set of objects of graduated size that can be stacked together, each fitting within the one immediately larger: a nest of tables.
b. A cluster of similar things.
Computer Science A set of data contained sequentially within another.
A group of weapons in a prepared position: a machine-gun nest.

verb nest·ed, nest·ing, nests

verb, intransitive

To build or occupy a nest.
To create and settle into a warm and secure refuge.
To hunt for birds' nests, especially in order to collect the eggs.
To fit together in a stack.

verb, transitive

To place in or as if in a nest.
To put snugly together or inside one another: to nest boxes.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English; see sed- in Indo-European roots

Word History: Nest is an ancient word, *nizdos in Indo-European, composed of the prefix *ni- “down,” plus a form of the verbal root *sed-, “to sit,” followed by a suffix used to form nouns, *-os. Thus a *ni-zd-os literally means “(place where the bird) sits down.” In Germanic, an old zd became st. Thus *nizdos became *nistaz, which further changed in Old English to nest. Latin also inherited the word *nizdos from Indo-European, where it eventually changed to nīdus. This word has been borrowed into English as a scientific term. The prefix *ni- survives elsewhere in English, too, in the words beneath and nether.

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