Link Centre Dictionary

nest

UK/nɛst/ US/ˈnɛst/ common slang us
noun (5) verb (4)

noun

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.
4.

a gang of people (criminals or spies or terrorists) assembled in one locality

  • “a nest of thieves”
5.

verb

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”
Synonyms
4.

gather nests

Origin

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).

Phrases

  • Nest in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.