Adjacent Words

Nest definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NEST, n.
1. The place or bed formed or used by a bird for incubation or the mansion of her young, until they are able to fly. The word is used also for the bed in which certain insects deposit their eggs.
2. Any place where irrational animals are produced.
3. An abode; a place of residence; a receptacle of numbers, or the collection itself; usually in an ill sense; as a nest of rogues.
4. A warm close place of abode; generally in contempt.
5. A number of boxes, cases or the like, inserted in each other.
NEST, v.i. To build and occupy a nest.
The king of birds nested with its leaves.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a structure in which animals lay eggs or give birth to their young
2: a kind of gun emplacement; "a machine-gun nest"; "a nest of snipers"
3: a cosy or secluded retreat
4: a gang of people (criminals or spies or terrorists) assembled in one locality; "a nest of thieves"
5: furniture pieces made to fit close together v
1: inhabit a nest, usually after building; "birds are nesting outside my window every Spring"
2: fit together or fit inside; "nested bowls"
3: move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position; "We cuddled against each other to keep warm"; "The children snuggled into their sleeping bags" [syn: cuddle, snuggle, nestle, nest, nuzzle, draw close]
4: gather nests

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German nest nest, Latin nidus Date: before 12th century 1. a. a bed or receptacle prepared by an animal and especially a bird for its eggs and young b. a place or specially modified structure serving as an abode of animals and especially of their immature stages <an ants' nest> c. a receptacle resembling a bird's nest 2. a. a place of rest, retreat, or lodging ; home <grown children who have left the nest> b. den, hangout 3. the occupants or frequenters of a nest 4. a. a group of similar things <a nest of giant mountains — Helen MacInnes> b. hotbed 2 <a nest of rebellion> 5. a group of objects made to fit close together or one within another 6. an emplaced group of weapons II. verb Date: 13th century intransitive verb 1. to build or occupy a nest ; settle in or as if in a nest 2. to fit compactly together or within one another ; embed transitive verb 1. to form a nest for 2. to pack compactly together 3. to form a hierarchy, series, or sequence of with each member, element, or set contained in or containing the next <nested subroutines>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a structure or place where a bird lays eggs and shelters its young. 2 an animal's or insect's breeding-place or lair. 3 a snug or secluded retreat or shelter. 4 (often foll. by of) a place fostering something undesirable (a nest of vice). 5 a brood or swarm. 6 a group or set of similar objects, often of different sizes and fitting together for storage (a nest of tables). --v. 1 intr. use or build a nest. 2 intr. take wild birds' nests or eggs. 3 intr. (of objects) fit together or one inside another. 4 tr. (usu. as nested adj.) establish in or as in a nest. Phrases and idioms: nest egg 1 a sum of money saved for the future. 2 a real or artificial egg left in a nest to induce hens to lay eggs there. Derivatives: nestful n. (pl. -fuls). nesting n. (in sense 2 of v.). nestlike adj. Etymology: OE nest

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nest Nest, n. [AS. nest; akin to D. & G. nest, Sw. n["a]ste, L. nidus, for nisdus, Skr. n[=i]?a resting place, nest; cf. Lith. lizdas, Arm. neiz, Gael. & Ir. nead. Prob. from the particle ni down, Skr. ni + the root of E. sit, and thus orig., a place to sit down in. [root] 264. See Nether, and Sit, and cf. Eyas, Nidification, Nye.] 1. The bed or receptacle prepared by a fowl for holding her eggs and for hatching and rearing her young. The birds of the air have nests. --Matt. viii. 20. 2. Hence: the place in which the eggs of other animals, as insects, turtles, etc., are laid and hatched; a snug place in which young animals are reared. --Bentley. 3. A snug, comfortable, or cozy residence or situation; a retreat, or place of habitual resort; hence, those who occupy a nest, frequent a haunt, or are associated in the same pursuit; as, a nest of traitors; a nest of bugs. A little cottage, like some poor man's nest. --Spenser. 4. (Geol.) An aggregated mass of any ore or mineral, in an isolated state, within a rock. 5. A collection of boxes, cases, or the like, of graduated size, each put within the one next larger. 6. (Mech.) A compact group of pulleys, gears, springs, etc., working together or collectively. Nest egg, an egg left in the nest to prevent the hen from forsaking it, and to induce her to lay more in the same place; hence, figuratively, something laid up as the beginning of a fund or collection. --Hudibras.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nest Nest, v. i. To build and occupy a nest. The king of birds nested within his leaves. --Howell.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nest Nest, v. t. To put into a nest; to form a nest for. From him who nested himself into the chief power. --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(nests, nesting, nested) 1. A bird's nest is the home that it makes to lay its eggs in. I can see an eagle's nest on the rocks. N-COUNT: oft poss N 2. When a bird nests somewhere, it builds a nest and settles there to lay its eggs. Some species may nest in close proximity to each other. ...nesting sites. VERB: V, V-ing 3. A nest is a home that a group of insects or other creatures make in order to live in and give birth to their young in. Some solitary bees make their nests in burrows in the soil. ...a rat's nest. N-COUNT: usu poss N 4. see also crow's nest, love nest 5. When children fly the nest, they leave their parents' home to live on their own. When their children had flown the nest, he and his wife moved to a thatched cottage in Dorset. = leave home PHRASE: V inflects 6. a hornet's nest: see hornet

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(qen; neossia, nossia; in the New Testament kataskenosis; Latin nidus): A receptacle prepared by a bird for receiving its eggs and young. Nests differ with species. Eagles use a large heap of coarse sticks and twigs on the cleft of a mountain (Job 39:27 ff; Jer 49:16; Ob 1:4); hawks prefer trees; vultures, hollow trees or the earth; ravens, big trees; doves and pigeons, trees or rocky crevices (Jer 48:28); hoopoes, hollow trees; swallows, mud nests under a roof, on cliffs or deserted temples; owls, hollow trees, dark places in ruins or sand burrows (on the qippoz of Isa 34:15 see OWL); cranes, storks and herons, either trees (Ps 104:17) or rushes beside water (storks often choose housetops, as well).

Each nest so follows the building laws of its owner's species that any expert ornithologist can tell from a nest which bird builded it. Early in incubation a bird deserts a nest readily because it hopes to build another in a place not so easily discoverable and where it can deposit more eggs. When the young have progressed until their quickening is perceptible through the thin shells pressed against the breast of the mother, she develops a boldness called by scientists the "brooding fever." In this state the wildest of birds frequently will suffer your touch before deserting the nest. Especially is this the case if the young are just on the point of emerging. The first Biblical reference to the nest of a bird will be found in Balaam's fourth prophecy in Nu 24:21: "And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest is set in the rock." Here Balaam was thinking of the nest of an eagle, hawk or vulture, placed on solid rock among impregnable crags of mountain tops. The next reference is among the laws for personal conduct in De 22:6: "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young." Beyond question this is the earliest law on record for the protection of a brooding bird. It is probable that it was made permissible to take the young, as the law demanded their use, at least in the case of pigeons and doves, for sacrifice. In Job 29:18, Job cries,

"Then I said, I shall die in my nest,

And I shall multiply my days as the sand:"

that is, he hoped in his days of prosperity to die in the home he had builded for his wife and children. In Ps 84:3 David sings,

"Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house,

And the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

Even thine altars, O Yahweh of hosts,

My King, and my God."

These lines are rich and ripe with meaning, for in those days all the world protected a temple nest, even to the infliction of the death penalty on anyone interfering with it. This was because the bird was supposed to be claiming the protection of the gods. Hebrew, Arab and Egyptian guarded all nests on places of worship. Pagan Rome executed the shoemaker who killed a raven that built on a temple, and Athens took the same revenge on the man who destroyed the nest of a swallow. Isaiah compared the destruction of Assyria to the robbing of a bird's nest: "And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped" (Isa 10:14; compare Isa 16:2). Matthew quotes Jesus as having said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Mt 8:20 equals Lu 9:58). Gene Stratton-Porter

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