What does "nest" mean?

1. (animal home) a structure built by a bird or animal to keep its eggs or babies safe. 2. (fitting objects) a set of similar objects of different sizes that fit inside one another. 3. (military position) a hidden or protected place for a weapon, like a machine gun. 4. (to build a home) to build or live in a nest. 5. (to fit inside) to place one thing inside another, or to fit together in a stack.

How do you use "nest"?

Often used in programming to describe loops or functions inside other loops or functions.

nest

n. · v.

US //ˈnɛst// UK //nˈɛst// nest

1 animal home (n.)
A2 Elementary

a structure built by a bird or animal to keep its eggs or babies safe.

a structure constructed by a bird, insect, or other animal for the purpose of depositing eggs and rearing young.

Example

We found a small bird's nest hidden high up in the apple tree.

Example

The eagle constructed a massive nest of sticks and moss on the inaccessible cliff face to protect its fledglings from predators.
- den
- burrow
- roost
2 fitting objects (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

a set of similar objects of different sizes that fit inside one another.

a collection of objects of graduated size, each designed to be stored within the next larger one.

Example

She bought a nest of tables that saved a lot of space in the small living room.

Example

The kitchen was equipped with a convenient nest of mixing bowls, ranging from a small prep dish to a large five-litre vessel.
- set
- stack

Show 3 more sensesShow fewer

3 military position (n.)
C1 Advanced Technical Military

a hidden or protected place for a weapon, like a machine gun.

a fortified or concealed position for a weapon or a small group of soldiers.

Example

The soldiers spotted a sniper's nest in the clock tower.

Example

The infantry unit was tasked with neutralising a machine-gun nest that had pinned down the advancing platoon for several hours.
- post
- strongpoint
- bunker
4 to build a home (v.)
B1 Intermediate

to build or live in a nest.

to build or occupy a nest; by extension, to settle into a comfortable home environment.

Example

Many birds prefer to nest in the thick bushes near the river.

Example

The rare species of sea turtle returns to this specific beach every year to nest in the soft sand above the high-tide mark.
- settle
- roost
- dwell
5 to fit inside (v.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Technical Computing

to place one thing inside another, or to fit together in a stack.

to fit an object or a piece of data inside another of the same type.

Example

You can nest these plastic boxes to save space in the cupboard.

Example

The programmer had to nest several loops to process the multi-dimensional array efficiently, though it made the code harder to read.

Usage

Often used in programming to describe loops or functions inside other loops or functions.

Etymology 1

From Middle English nest, nist, nyst, from Old English nest, from Proto-West Germanic nest, from Proto-Germanic nestą, from Proto-Indo-European nisdós (“nest”), literally "where [the bird] sits down", a compound of ni (“down”) (whence also English nether) + the zero-grade of the root *sed- (“to sit”) (whence also English sit).

Etymology 2

From Middle English nesten, nisten, from Old English nistan, nistian, from Proto-West Germanic *nistijan (“to nest, build a nest”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian näästje (“to nest”), Dutch nesten (“to nest”), German Low German nüsten (“to nest”), German nisten (“to nest”).

Idioms5 entries