# nest

Pronunciation: say "NEST" /nɛst/

## Noun

1. A structure that a bird builds to hold its eggs and raise its young.
   - Simple: A cup-shaped home a bird builds to hold its eggs and raise its young.
   - _The eagle returned to its nest high on the cliff face._
   - _Sparrows wove a nest from twigs and dried grass under the eaves._
3. A snug, comfortable home or a secure, easy job situation.
   - Simple: A warm, comfortable home, or a safe and easy job.
   - _The cottage became a quiet nest where the couple spent their retirement._
   - _He had settled into a comfortable nest at the firm and had no plans to leave._
4. The family home that a child or young adult shares with a parent or guardian.
   - Simple: The family home where a child or young person lives with a parent.
   - _He finally flew the nest at twenty-two and rented an apartment downtown._
   - _Their daughter returned to the nest after finishing college._
5. A place where a fish, amphibian, insect, or monotreme lays its eggs and where the young hatch.
   - Simple: A place where an animal such as a fish, frog, or insect lays its eggs and raises its young.
   - _Some catfish guard a nest of eggs until the fry hatch._
   - _The platypus laid her eggs deep inside a burrow nest._
8. A set of boxes, cases, or similar items of graduated size, each fitting within the next larger one.
   - Simple: A set of boxes or cases of different sizes that fit inside one another.
   - _A nest of tables stood beside the sofa, ready to be pulled apart for guests._
   - _He stored his tools in a nest of metal cases that fit one inside another._
9. A hideout or den where criminals and other dangerous people gather.
   - Simple: A place where criminals or other bad people hide and gather.
   - _The waterfront tavern was known as a nest of smugglers and cutthroats._
   - _Investigators uncovered a nest of forgers operating behind the print shop._
10. A retreat or favorite place that someone returns to again and again.
   - Simple: A quiet place someone goes to often to relax or get away.
   - _The corner café became a nest for the writers who gathered there each afternoon._
   - _He retreated to his garden nest with a book every evening._
13. A fortified or sheltered position from which a weapon, especially a machine gun, is fired.
   - Simple: A protected spot where soldiers set up a gun or other weapon.
   - _The platoon advanced cautiously toward the concrete nest overlooking the valley._
   - _Snipers had established a nest in the bombed-out tower._
14. An arrangement of structures contained one within another, such as loops enclosed by loops or subroutine calls invoked within other calls.
   - Simple: A group of things placed one inside another, like smaller loops inside bigger loops in a program.
   - _Debugging the routine meant tracing a deep nest of function calls._
   - _Each loop sat within a larger one, forming a nest three levels deep._
15. A circular bed of pasta, rice, or similar food, shaped to be topped or filled with other ingredients.
   - Simple: A round bed of pasta or rice shaped to hold other food on top.
   - _The pasta was twirled into a neat nest and crowned with seafood._
   - _Each plate featured a nest of saffron rice holding braised lamb._
16. A compact cluster of mechanical parts (pulleys, gears, or springs) assembled to work together as a unit.
   - Simple: A tight group of parts like gears or springs that work together as one.
   - _Engineers replaced the worn nest of pulleys that drove the conveyor belt._
   - _Inside the mechanism sat a delicate nest of springs controlling the timing._
17. An isolated, aggregated mass of ore or mineral occurring as a concentrated pocket within surrounding rock.
   - Simple: A lump of ore or mineral packed together on its own inside a rock.
   - _The survey revealed a nest of high-grade ore embedded in the granite._
   - _Prospectors traced several mineral nests scattered through the formation._
18. A fixed set of cards in certain bidding games, awarded to the highest bidder, who may exchange any or all of them with cards from their hand.
   - Simple: A set number of extra cards given to the top bidder, who can swap them with cards in their hand.
   - _After winning the auction, he turned over the nest and reshaped his hand._
   - _The nest held two strong trumps that secured the contract._
20. A vulgar slang term for the pubic hair near a vulva, or the vulva itself. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: A rude slang word for the hair around a woman's private parts, or those parts themselves.
   - _He bragged drunkenly about what he had glimpsed of her nest._
   - _The comedian's joke about a woman's nest drew groans from the audience._

## Verb

2. To build a nest, or to settle snugly into a place to rest.
   - Simple: To make a nest, or to settle down comfortably into one.
   - _Many seabirds nest on steep coastal cliffs to avoid predators._
   - _The cat circled twice before nesting into the warm blanket._
6. To place one thing neatly inside another, and both inside yet another, and so on.
   - Simple: To put one thing inside another, and that inside a bigger one, and so on.
   - _Engineers nest the components tightly to reduce wasted space._
   - _He carefully nested each cup inside the next before sealing the crate._
7. To fit one inside another in succession, each piece sitting within the next.
   - Simple: To fit neatly one inside another, piece by piece.
   - _Good camping pots nest inside one another, so the whole set packs into the largest._
   - _Each container nests inside the next, saving shelf space._
11. To settle comfortably into a place and make it feel like home.
   - Simple: To settle in and make a place feel like your own home.
   - _Many people nest during the cold months, filling their homes with blankets and comfort._
   - _After years abroad, he finally nested in a town he could call his own._
12. To place something in, or as if in, a nest.
   - Simple: To put something into a nest, or into a snug place like one.
   - _Volunteers nest the rescued chicks in lined boxes each spring._
   - _The jeweler nested each gemstone in a velvet-lined tray._
19. To search for birds' nests or the eggs and young inside them, usually in the phrase go nesting.
   - Simple: To go looking for birds' nests or the eggs and baby birds in them.
   - _As a boy he went nesting along the hedgerows and kept a list of every egg he found._
   - _Old farmers still talk about going nesting in the spring when they were boys._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–5, 8–10, 13–18, 20** — From Middle English nest, from Old English nest, going back through Proto-Germanic to Proto-Indo-European *nisdós ("nest"), literally "where [the bird] sits down": a compound of *ni ("down," source of English nether) and the root *sed- ("to sit," source of English sit).
**Meanings 2, 6–7, 11–12, 19** — From Middle English nesten, from Old English nistan, from Proto-West Germanic *nistijan ("to nest, build a nest"), related to Dutch nesten and German nisten ("to nest").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/nest (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).