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nest egg

See more synonyms for nest egg on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. money saved and held in reserve for emergencies, retirement, etc.
  2. a natural or artificial egg placed in a nest to induce a hen to continue laying eggs there.
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Origin of nest egg

First recorded in 1600–10
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

cachestashsavingsstockpilebackupfundsinvestmentmeansprovisionsreserveresources

Examples from the Web for nest egg

Historical Examples

  • With us, when we have made a little money we keep it to be a nest-egg to make more from.

    The Soul of a People

    H. Fielding

  • "The nest-egg for the second generation of Fletchers," he grinned.

    A Son of the City

    Herman Gastrell Seely

  • He may run them with the flocks, sell the wool, and keep the money as a nest-egg.

    The Story of Wool

    Sara Ware Bassett

  • We have kept a nest-egg in the bank, too, all the time, in case we did get stuck.

  • So it was you, Unc' Billy Possum, who kicked that nest-egg out.

British Dictionary definitions for nest egg

nest egg

noun
  1. a fund of money kept in reserve; savings
  2. a natural or artificial egg left in a nest to induce hens to lay their eggs in it
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012