nest
Americannoun
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nests
plural
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a pocketlike, usually more or less circular structure of twigs, grass, mud, etc., formed by a bird, often high in a tree, as a place in which to lay and incubate its eggs and rear its young; any protected place used by a bird for these purposes.
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a place used by insects, fishes, turtles, rabbits, etc., for depositing their eggs or young.
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a number of birds, insects, animals, etc., inhabiting one such place.
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a snug retreat or refuge; resting place; home.
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an assemblage of things lying or set close together, as a series of boxes or trays, that fit within each other.
a nest of tables.
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a place where something bad is fostered or flourishes: a robber's nest.
a nest of vice;
a robber's nest.
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the occupants or frequenters of such a place.
verb (used with object)
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nests,
present (3rd person singular)
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nested,
past participle, past
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nesting
present participle
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to settle or place (something) in or as if in a nest.
to nest dishes in straw.
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to fit or place one within another.
to nest boxes for more compact storage.
verb (used without object)
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nests,
present (3rd person singular)
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nested,
past participle, past
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nesting
present participle
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to build or have a nest.
The swallows nested under the eaves.
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to settle in or as if in a nest.
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to fit together or within another or one another.
bowls that nest easily for storage.
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to search for or collect nests.
to go nesting.
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Computers. to place a routine inside another routine that is at a higher hierarchical level.
noun
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a place or structure in which birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, mice, etc, lay eggs or give birth to young
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a number of animals of the same species and their young occupying a common habitat
an ants' nest
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a place fostering something undesirable
a nest of thievery
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the people in such a place
a nest of thieves
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a cosy or secluded place
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a set of things, usually of graduated sizes, designed to fit together
a nest of tables
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military a weapon emplacement
a machine-gun nest
verb
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(intr) to make or inhabit a nest
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(intr) to hunt for birds' nests
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(tr) to place in a nest
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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nestsimple
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nestssimple
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have nestedperfect
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has nestedperfect
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am nestingprogressive
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are nestingprogressive
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is nestingprogressive
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have been nestingperfect progressive
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has been nestingperfect progressive
Past
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nestedsimple
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had nestedperfect
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was nestingprogressive
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were nestingprogressive
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had been nestingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nest
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English (cognate with Dutch, German nest; akin to Latin nīdus “nest,” Old Irish net, Welsh nyth, Sanskrit nīḍa “lair”), ultimately from unattested Indo-European nizdo- “bird's nest,” equivalent to unattested ni “down” ( see nether) + unattested zd-, variant of unattested sd-, ablaut variant of unattested sed-, verb base meaning “sit” ( see sit 1) + unattested -o- thematic vowel
Explanation
A nest is a shelter or other structure that an animal uses for laying eggs or giving birth. If a bird is collecting string and straw and twigs in your yard, she's probably building a nest in a nearby tree. Large birds of prey build nests that can be six feet high, in trees or on buildings, and up to three feet wide. Owls often make nests in tree hollows, while orioles build elaborate hammock-like nests that hang from branches. Foxes, mice, and raccoons also build nests, and people can make nests too, cozy spots to settle for a nap. As a verb, nest means "to build a nest or fit inside something larger."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But little is known about the behaviour of juvenile harriers once they leave the nest.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Those at CFG will look on with interest at how Savinho fares away from their nest.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
The 4½-year-old eagle is larger than Shadow and she’s been moving sticks around in the nest and nibbling on him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
You could fly into a major metropolitan area like Miami to scout places and easily plunk down your entire $2 million nest egg in one day.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
He was carrying a scrap of paper in his beak, and he tucked the scrap into his nest, which was made entirely of trash he’d found around the station.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
She added that the scheme only removes one chick at a time from nests, and the birds are checked for bird flu before they are released.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Mammals feed their young with milk, birds protect and maintain nests, and ants tend developing larvae.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
He added: "We observed a number of birds leaving the site but their chicks and nests would not have survived."
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
The States urged islanders not to attempt to remove nests, which can expand rapidly during August and September and hold up to 2,000 hornets.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
He saw eggs in some of the moorhens’ nests, but the mother birds were constantly coming and going.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Watch for clues when the storyline we’re watching becomes its own nested narrative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The novellas are composed of nested stories inspired by Scheherazade’s tales in “One Thousand and One Nights.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
CJ7 and 022 - the first ospreys to breed on England's south coast in 180 years - have nested at Careys Secret Garden since 2022.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
Male osprey 022 and female CJ7 have nested at Careys Secret Garden near Wareham, Dorset, since 2022.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
It resembles two nested cubes, all the vertices connected by lines.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
This nesting season, the pair raised eaglets Sandy and Luna, who successfully fledged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
Paul Davies, countryside manager for the area, says a large number of nesting birds will have died as well as reptiles, small mammals and amphibians.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
"Bulldozers on the beaches have already damaged the nesting sites of loggerhead turtles, which are threatened with extinction," Olsi Nika, a marine biologist who heads the NGO EcoAlbania, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Yet there’s a turducken of ironies nesting in the response to Mr. Trump’s firings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
It goes some- how against the grain to learn that cost-benefit analyses can be done neatly on lakes, meadows, nesting gannets, even whole oceans.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
