nest

CEFRB1

/nɛst/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A structure where birds lay eggs and raise young.

  2. 02

    verb

    To settle comfortably in a place.

Examples

  • The hen was sitting on the eggs in the nest.

  • Sparrows building a nest of twigs and dry grass

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A place used by a monotreme, fish, amphibian or insect, for depositing eggs and hatching young.

  2. A snug, comfortable, or cosy residence or job situation.

  3. A structure built by a bird as a place to incubate eggs and rear young.

More examples

In context

  • Put it back in the nest.

  • I am aspiring to leave the nest.

  • That nightclub is a nest of strange people!

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Each spring, the birds always blank in the same old oak tree to raise their young.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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).