nest
n. countablen. a home that a bird or other animal builds to hold its eggs or babies. You can also use it to describe a cozy place where someone feels safe.
n. a structure or place made or chosen by a bird or other animal for laying eggs and sheltering its young. Often used metaphorically to describe a snug retreat or a place of origin.
The bird built a small nest in the apple tree.
We found a hidden nest of robins tucked safely under the eaves of the old garden shed.
High atop the jagged cliffs, the eagle had constructed a massive nest of sticks and moss, providing a secure vantage point over the valley below.
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).
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”).
Commonly used in the phrase 'to feather one's nest', meaning to look after one's own financial interests.
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feather one's nest
To achieve benefits, especially financial ones, by taking advantage of the opportunities with which one is presented; to amass a comfortable amount of personal wealth; especially, to do so to a degree that involves venality.
- 02
hurrah's nest
pandemonium (state of chaos and confusion).
- 03
leave the nest
To leave home; to stop living with one's parents.