▪ I. nest, n.
(nɛst)
Also 1 nestþ, nestð, 2 nyst, 3–5 neste, 4, 6 neeste, 6–7 neast.
[OE. nest neut. = MDu. (and Du.), OHG. (and G.) nest (hence obs. Da. nest, MSw. näste, nesta), related to OIr. net (mod. nead; W. nyth), L. nīdus, Skr. nīḍá-:—*nizdo-, f. the roots ni- down (see nether) and sed- to sit.]
1. a. The structure made, or the place selected, by a bird, in which to lay and incubate its eggs, and which serves as a shelter for its unfledged young. (Cf. bird's nest 1.)
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. viii. 20 Foxas holas habbas & fleᵹende heofnes nestas vel nesto. a 1000 Phœnix 215 Þonne on swole byrneð þurh fyres feng fuᵹel mid neste. c 1220 Bestiary 801 In hole of ston ȝe [sc. the dove] makeð hire nest. 1297 R. Glouc. Chron. (Rolls) 3670 In ech roche þer is In tyme of ȝere an ernes nest, þat hii bredeþ inne. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 10202 In þo roches foules reste, & ernes brede, & make þer neste. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 336 Briddes I bihelde that in buskes made nestes. a 1400–50 Alexander 506 Þen come þar-in a litell brid.., And þar it nestild in a noke as it a nest were. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop i. xiii, The egle and his yonge were in theyr nest. 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 6 Glading the mery foulis in thair nest. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 191 Who finds the Partridge in the Puttocks Nest, But may imagine how the Bird was dead? 1678 Vaughan Thalia Rediv., Bee, Birds, from the shades of night releast Look round about, then quit the neast. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 744 The Mother Nightingale..Whose Nest some prying Churl had found. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 244 On these..are sometimes found, not only earth, but nests with birds eggs. 1822 Byron Heaven & Earth i. ii, He hovers nightly, Like a dove round and round its pillaged nest. 1879 Beerbohm Patagonia iv. 53, I found the nest to be of the roughest description, being simply a hole scooped in the ground. |
b. In proverbial phrases. (
Cf. feather v. 5.)
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 100 Dahet habbe that ilke best That fuleth his owe nest. c 1350 Will. Palerne 83 Þan fond he nest & no neiȝ, for nouȝt nas þer leued. c 1400 Gamelyn 610 Tho fond þe sherreue nyst, but none eye. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. v. 1594 It is neyther wurshipful ne honest On-to mankeende to foule soo his nest. 1509 Barclay Ship of Folys (1570) 65 It is a lewde birde that fileth his own neste. 1599 Breton Praise Vertuous Ladies (Grosart) 57/2 The proverbe sayes, ‘That it is an evill birde, will file its owne nest’. 1624 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 7 Were it not for..profaneness, these men would be dull, and (as we say) dead on the nest. 1676 North's Plutarch, Addit. Lives 77 By this means the Spaniards found nothing in the Nest. 1823 [see file v.2 1 b]. |
c. A place or structure used by animals or insects as an abode or lair, or in which their eggs, spawn, or young are deposited.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' T. 107 The serpent Sathanas, That hath in Jewes hert his waspis nest. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6504 It is but foly to entremete, To seke in houndes nest fat-mete. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 86 Fore-warning winde Did seeme to say, seeke not a Scorpions Nest. 1611 ― Wint. T. iv. iv. 814 Hee has a Sonne: who shall be..set on the head of a Waspes Nest. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 667 A Snake..Leaving his Nest, and his imperfect Young. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. i. 303 The Does [of rabbits] prevent them by stopping or covering their Stocks or Nests with Earth or Gravel. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 77 They [dormice] inhabit woods or very thick hedges, forming their nests in the hollow of some tree. 1818 Kirby & Spence Entomol. xvi. II. 60 Which sent most of the ants in a fright to the nest. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Animals II. xxi. 384 Fishes..sometimes..prepare regular nests for their young. 1899 19th Cent. Sept. 400 Spring floods..wash out the nests [of salmon] by wholesale. |
d. A malformation on a tree, so called from its outward resemblance to a bird's nest.
| 1887 W. Phillips Brit. Discomycetes 404 Producing ‘nests’, or ‘witches' besoms’, on birch. |
2. a. A place in which a person (or personified thing) finds rest or has residence; a lodging, shelter, home, bed, etc.,
esp. of a secluded or comfortable nature; a snug retreat.
| a 1000 Phœnix 553 [from Job xxix. 18] Ic in minum neste neobed ceose, hæle hraweriᵹ. a 1225 Ancr. R. 134 Þeos [ancren] in swuche neste muwen habben herde reste. Ibid. 136 Wiðine þine heorte, þet is Godes nest. c 1375 Cursor M. 22556 (Fairf.), Lorde quere salle we þan rest, quen we mai naure-quere finde a nest. 1382 Wyclif Hab. ii. 9 Woo to hym that gadrith euyl coueitise to his hous, that his nest be in heeȝ. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. clxxiii, That place that thou cam fro, Quhich is thy first and verray proper nest. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 45 Husbande, I would we were in our nest. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 32 A little cottage, like some poore man's nest. 1726 Penn's Wks. I. Life 194 How to raise to your selues a great Name and Estate to exalt your Nests. 1784 Cowper Task i. 227, I called the low-roofed lodge the Peasant's Nest. 1822 Shelley To Jane, Recollection 11 The lightest wind was in its nest, The tempest in its home. 1865 Times 30 Aug., In one of the third-floor rooms of my hotel,..a nest of unspotted tidiness. |
b. A place in which a thing is lodged or deposited.
| 1589 Cooper Admon. 22 The excessive buildings and needelesse nestes of mens treasures. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. x. §5 To obserue, what cauities, nestes and receptacles the humors doe finde in the parts. 1697 Evelyn Numism. vii. 251 Taking them [medals] out of their respective Nests and Localities. 1842 L. Hunt Palfrey iv. 15 Their drowsy noses droop'd alway To meet the beard's attractive nest. |
† c. A niche.
Obs. rare—1.
Prob. a mistranslation of F.
niche, after the
vb. nicher to nest. See also
nesset.
| 1640–1 Wood's Life (O.H.S.) IV. 57 To Mr. Jackson for makeing the nest of the king's picture in the Librarie, 6li. |
d. Mil. An emplaced group of machine-guns.
| 1914 E. A. Powell Fighting in Flanders v. 120 Other wagons..contained ‘nests’ of nine machine-guns. 1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-Four i. 8 A maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors and hidden machine-gun nests. 1959 R. Postgate Every Man is God xviii. 157 The Germans come out of the machine-gun nest holding up their hands. |
3. a. A place in which persons of a certain class (
esp. thieves, robbers, or pirates) have their usual residence or resort.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. Prol. 27 Lat the frere see Wher is the nest of freres in this place! 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxii. 43 Ȝour burgh of beggeris is ane nest. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 741 The king of Englande woulde not haue suffered the French kyng to haue buylded such a couert nest so nere his towne of Calice. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 272 He had razed Hen. Ovington's Castle, and Mac Hughes Iland, which both had been neasts and starting holes for theeves. 1648 Gage West Ind. 159 That Church of Rome is a wide and spatious nest. 1747 Cooke in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iv. lvi. 260 This is said to have been formerly a nest of robbers. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. x. I. 285 The western and mountainous part of Cilicia, formerly the nest of those daring pyrates. 1842 Borrow Bible in Sp. xxiv, Were the friars still in their nest above there. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. xii. 125 The hill-fortress became a mere nest of robbers. |
b. A place or quarter in which some state of things, quality, etc. (
esp. of a bad kind), is fostered or is prevalent; a haunt
of crime, vice, etc.
| 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 60 Gold, which is..The neast of strife, and nourice of debate. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 151, I heare some noyse Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and vnnaturall sleepe. 1642 Rogers Naaman 35 Scarce one in a long time gastred out of his neast of forme or profanenesse. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 130 Damascus, he had heard, was now the worst nest of this hateful delusion. 1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 75 The ship is a very nest of rumours. |
4. a. A number of birds, insects, or other animals, occupying the same nest or habitation; a brood, swarm, colony.
| c 1470 Hors, Shepe & G. (Caxton 1479, Roxb. repr.) 29 An erthe of foxes: a neste of rabettis. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 54 There is a nest of chickens. 1589 Pasquil's Ret. D iv, They swell at him with enuie like a nest of foule Toades. 1642 C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 88 Men will be wary how they..provoke a nest of waspes. 1727–8 Pope Let. to Swift 23 Mar., How much that nest of Hornets are my regard, will easily appear to you. 1760 Stiles in Phil. Trans. LII. 42 The undulating motion of a nest of caterpillars, when climbing the trunk of some vegetable. 1818 Kirby & Spence Entomol. xvi. II. 62 A nest of ants..discovered a closet..in which conserves were kept. 1881 Cable Mme. Delphine ii. 6 Like a nest of yellow kittens. |
b. A number or collection of people,
esp. of the same class or frequenting a common resort.
| 1589 ? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet C ij, It was one of your neast, that writt this for a loue letter. 1652 Crashaw Carmen Deo Wks. (1904) 275 Asham'd that our world, now, can show Nests of new Seraphims here below. 1695 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 531 This week a whole nest of clippers were discovered by one Smith in hopes to gett a pardon. 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 20 (1726) 101 Should I call the whole university of Oxford a nest of fools. 1778 Geo. III in T. Hutchinson Diary II. 217 They [the Americans] are a sad nest. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 94 A little nest of Covenanting refugee clergy. |
5. a. An accumulation or collection of similar objects; also
fig. of immaterial things.
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. v. 373 People found out a nest of miracles in her education. 1666 G. Alsop Mary Land (1869) 107 A most horrid neast of condemned Evils. 1703 Let. in Pepys' Diary (1893) I. p. 1, There was found in his left kidney a nest of no less than seven stones. 1845 Talfourd Vac. Rambles I. 135 A small nest of low bushes. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xv. 161 Making..for a nest of broken hummocks. 1874 Deutsch Rem. 192 Perfect nests of arguments..stolen from the mediæval successors of those same Rabbis. |
b. A number of buildings, or of narrow streets, lying in close proximity to one another.
| 1796 Combe Boydell's Thames II. 165 Durham House was become a nest of wharfs and warehouses. 1861 T. A. Trollope La Beata II. xvi. 157 They entered the nest of little quiet streets. 1875 Helps Soc. Press. ii. 16 A little London boy, born and bred in some hideous nest of alleys. |
6. a. A set or series of similar objects,
esp. of such as are contained in the same receptacle, or are so made that each smaller one is enclosed in, or fits into, that which is next in size to it.
nest of goblets was common in the 16th c., and
nest of drawers in the first half of the 18th.
| 1524 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 190 My nest of my goblettes. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 Item for euery nest of compters, xviii. s. 1583 Rates of Customs C iv b, Hampers the nest containing three iijs. iiijd. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. i, Hee has got on his whole nest of night-caps. 1658 Osborn Adv. Son Wks. (1673) 231 They are all contained within the compass of a just proportion (like a nest of boxes). 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 335 Turned one within another, like a nest of Crucibles or Boxes. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4060/5 One Nest of Drawers. 1785 R. Cumberland Observer No. 50 ¶2 He has now gone pretty nearly through my whole nest of shelves. 1807 R. Southey Lett. from England I. 155 Here is also a nest of tables for the ladies, consisting of four, one less than another, and each fitting into the one above it. 1834 Southey Doctor II. 22 The public is like a nest of patent coffins.., one within another. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy (1854) 37 There are nests of flower-pots, rakes, water-pots. 1863 Tyndall Heat v. §184 (1870) 148 Here is a nest of watch glasses. 1924 R. Keable Recompence iv. 76 A delightful nest of occasional tables. 1973 J. Leasor Host of Extras i. 17 A nest of spanners and some lengths of wire that might come in useful in starting an engine. 1975 Country Life 20 Feb. Suppl. 32d/2 A rare nest of five rosewood ‘quartetto’ tables..English, circa 1820. |
b. A connected series of cogwheels or pulleys.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1521/2. |
7. a. Min. An isolated deposit of a mineral or metal occurring in the midst of other formations.
| 1725 T. Thomas in Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 120 Near his house has been discovered..a considerable silver mine, or, as they call it, a nest of silver. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 188 Generally found in nests or veins of rocks. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 371 The secondary rocks..contain nests and small veins of..iron and copper pyrites. 1875 Dawson Dawn Life ii. 13 Strata often diversified with veins and nests of crystalline minerals. |
b. Path. A group of epithelial cells.
| 1871 T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. 177 These masses are the ‘concentric globes’, or ‘epithelial nests’, which are so characteristic of epithelioma. 1884 M. Mackenzie Dis. Throat & Nose II. 413 The microscopic characters of lupus are..infiltration of the integument with small cells arranged in ‘nests’ [etc.]. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as
nest-burrow,
nest-door,
nest-factory,
nest-hole,
nest-mate,
nest-material,
nest-part,
nest-place,
nest-plumage,
nest-relief,
nest-room,
nest-scrape,
nest-site,
nest-tree;
nest-builder,
nest-maker,
nest-robber,
nest-wright;
nest-building,
nest-composing,
nest-keeping,
nest-making,
nest-raiding,
nest-taking;
nest-deserted;
† nest-cock,
-cockle,
-frame (see
quots.);
† nest-gut (?);
nest-spring,
-sugar (see
quots.).
| 1883 Harper's Mag. Dec. 100/2 Nearly all the sun-fishes are *nest-builders. |
| 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIII. 380/2 This is the home of the *nest-building tree ants. 1895 Daily News 19 Dec. 2/3 A lesson from the magpie on the art of nest-building. |
| 1948 British Birds XLI. 341 During our short stay we saw no trace of *nest burrows of the Great Shearwater. 1961 G. Durrell Whispering Land ii. 55 Once the parent bird [sc. a penguin] reached the edge of the colony it had run the gauntlet of several thousand youngsters before it reached its own nest-burrow and babies. |
| 1674 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 4), Nescock or *Nestcock, one that never was from home, a Fondling or Wanton. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Closcuau, the Nestling, or *Nest-cockle; the last-hatched bird in a neast. |
| 1601 Chester Love's Mart. clxxxii, The artificiale *nest-composing Swallow. |
| 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh i. 43 As restless as a *nest-deserted bird. |
| 1818 Keats Endym. i. 733 Within the space Of a swallow's *nest-door. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 19 Aug. 5/3 The Hungarian Government go so far as to pay large sums of money in subsidies to artificial *nest factories, these nests being fixed in the forests by the thousand and regularly looked after. |
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ii. ¶1 *Nest-Frames to..hold the Cases that may lye out of present use. |
| a 1653 G. Daniel Idyll iv. 30 We're indeed soe Dull In the *Nest-Gutt, wee Crye fasting and full. |
| 1893 G. D. Leslie Lett. Marco xxxviii. 256 The sand-martins' *nest-holes. |
| 1851 Zoologist IX. 3123 Capturing flies among the gay petals for his *nest-keeping partner. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Annicheur, a nestler; a *nest-maker. 1864–5 J. G. Wood Homes without H. xxvii. (1868) 514 When in a state of liberty..it is an admirable nest-maker. |
| 1817 Raffles Java I. 51 The materials commonly employed in *nest-making. 1863 Atkinson Stanton Grange (1864) 10 A favourite place, well suited for nest-making. |
| 1913 G. S. Porter Laddie v. 146 If a young bird failed to get the bite it wanted, it sometimes grabbed one of its *nestmates by the bill..and tried to swallow it whole. 1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man x. 214 The nestling cuckoo..does not know why he is murdering his fellow nest-mates. |
| 1923 ― Essays of Biologist iii. 121 We invariably find the seizing of *nest-material in the beak as a part of courtship. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World vii. 68 We often wondered how another gull knew whether a grass-pulling gull was in an aggressive mood or merely collecting nest-material. |
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 164 Close up between the *nest part and jaw of the block. |
| 1879 E. Arnold Lt. Asia 15 Wild swans..voyaging..To their *nest-places. |
| 1854 Zoologist XII. 4267 Describing the *nest plumage from a dark specimen. |
| 1937 British Birds XXXI. 205 The evidence for *nest raiding is so scanty as to lead to the conclusion that it is not a usual habit. 1953 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 15 It is in the early morning..that the crow carries out most of its nest-raiding. |
| 1923 J. S. Huxley Essays of Biologist iii. 112 After the eggs [of the Louisiana Heron] are laid both sexes brood, and there is a *nest-relief four times in every twenty-four hours. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xvi. 136 The variation in the behaviour of the birds at nest-relief is primarily due to variations in the intensity of the incubation urge. |
| 1893 Scribner's Mag. June 769/1 He is a *nest-robber at times, and a field-robber always. |
| 1886 P. Robinson Teetotum Trees 159 Turtle-doves recompense us by their beauty for our trifling concession of *nest room. |
| 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World ii. 11 When the birds of a pair make a *nest-scrape together..they make a queer rhythmical sound. 1964 Oxf. Bk. Birds 48/1 The nest scrape [of the kestrel] may be in a hollow tree. |
| 1930 J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching iii. 53 Each breeding pair occupies and defends against intrusion a considerable area around its *nest-site. 1964 A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 531/1 Summer migrants may select a nest site and begin building on the same day. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 633/1 *Nest Spring, a spiral spring of several concentric coils. |
| 1890 Roscoe & Schorlemmer Treat. Chem. III. 641 Trehala manna, which is obtained from the nest of a coleopterous insect;..in Persia it is known as *nest-sugar. |
| 1894 Daily News 8 Dec. 5/4 The former Act..did not forbid *nest-taking or egg-stealing in general. |
| 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) I. 191 After the breeding season rooks forsake their *nest-trees. a 1793 G. White Selborne, On the Weather, The cawing rook..haunts her tall nest-trees. |
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 152 Apprenticeship to the craft of a *Nestwright. |
Add:
[6.] c. Computing. A set of nested control structures, procedures, or subroutines; also (
Linguistics), of syntactic units.
| 1963 IBM Systems Jrnl. II. 318 A complete do nest is treated as an optimization unit, whereas the basic block was used in the non-do case. 1964 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery VII. 416/1 (heading) An automatic loader for subroutine nests. 1972 Computer Jrnl. XV. 199/1 When a stream is formed from a deep nest of stream functions, processing a single character can involve many function calls. 1985 Word XXXVI. 146 Recursion is also frequent on the phrase level where such nests occur as the serious study of that two thirds of the surface of the earth. |
▪ II. nest, v. (
nɛst)
Also 3
næstien, 7
neast.
[ME. nest(i)en (= MDu. and MLG. nesten), f. nest n., in place of OE. nist(i)an, = MDu. and OHG. (also mod.G.) nisten, with umlaut of the stem-vowel. c 825 Vesp. Psalter ciii. 17
Ðer spearwan nistað. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Spelman) ciii. 18
Þær sperwan nistiað.]
1. a. intr. Of birds, etc.: To make or have a nest or abode in a particular place.
† Also, to resort to the nest, to survive (
quot. a 1300).
| c 1205 Lay. 21753 [There] is a clude hæh and strong. Þer næstieð arnes & oðere græte uoȝeles. a 1225 Ancr. R. 132 Þeos..beoð eorð briddes, & nesteð o þer eorðe. a 1300 Vox & Wolf 48 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 59 Thou hauest that ilke ounder the splen; Thou nestes neuere daies ten. 1570 Levins Manip. 92/4 To Nest, nidulari. 1587 J. Harmar tr. Beza 279 This poore doue,..did shee not nest, and as it were hide her head in secret holes? 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. xiii. 285 Wild Bees, not civilized in hives, but nesting on the ground. 1680 Otway Orphan iv, Let's find some place where adders nest in winter. 1773 G. White in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 200, I have..seen them nesting in the Borough. a 1806 H. K. White Poems (1837) 127 Where nests the raven, sits the toad. 1827 Pollok Course T. viii, A thousand snakes..Nest there. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xviii. 157 The unsavoury smelling hole..where the same pair of kingfishers nested year after year. |
b. To engage in nest-building.
| 1774 G. White in Phil. Trans. LXV. 265 They begin nesting about the middle of May. 1863 [Wheelwright] Spring Lapl. 51, I observed a sparrow with a straw in his beak, evidently nesting. |
2. a. To settle or lodge as in a nest.
| 1591 Spenser Teares Muses 389 Sweete Love..spotles, as at first he sprong Out of th' Almighties bosome, where he nests. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. xii. lxxxvi, Where better could her love then here have nested? 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. Dressing ii, These dark confusions that within me nest. 1700 C. Davenant Disc. Grants iii. 109 The Flemings who had nested here in hopes of Booty. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 219 To..join anew Eternity his sire; In his immutability to nest. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. lviii, This sort of passion had nested in the sweet-natured, strong Rex. |
† b. To sit down to ease oneself.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1670 Mod. Acc. Scot. in Harl. Misc. (1745) VI. 123 The most Mannerly step but to the Door, and nest upon the Stairs. |
c. U.S. colloq. To squat. (
Cf. nester 2.)
| 1918 C. E. Mulford Man from Bar-20 xi. 114 Not satisfied with nestin' on a man's range, you had to start a little herd. |
† 3. refl. a. Of persons: To repose or rest, to domicile or settle, (oneself) in a place.
Obs. (
freq. in 17th c.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22556 Quar sal we þan rest Quen nan sal wite quar þam to nest. a 1425 Ibid. 9873 (Trin.), God þat wolde so him nest, In clene stud þen most he rest. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 27 Let wood and water request thee, In good corne soile to nest thee. 1588 in Arb. Garner III. 37 What meaneth Love to nest him in the..eyes..Of my mistress? 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 37 A Rabble of Pirats nest themselves in Salla. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. (1721) 214 Some nest themselves, like Wasps, only to buz about and sting. |
† b. transf. of things.
Obs.| 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. iii. 151 The fift hipocrisie..neasteth it self in the affections of the heart. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. iii. 12 Such a ministery establish't in the Gospell, as..nests it selfe in worldly honours. |
4. In
pa. pple. a. Settled, established, comfortably placed, in or as in a nest.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 132 The Masters and mariners..being then nested in their owne homes. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. l. 147 If we considered detraction to be..nested onely in deficient minds. 1673 Temple Obs. United Prov. Wks. 1720 I. 61 The Flock of People that for some time had been nested there. 1754 Fielding Voy. Lisbon Wks. 1784 X. 205 The wind had been long nested, as it were, in the south west. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 155 The side hills are well wooded, and nested among them are some delightful country-houses. 1883 E. Arnold Ind. Idylls 241 There perched A thousand crows,..Some nested, some on branchlets, deep asleep. |
b. Packed one inside another;
transf. of abstract entities:
cf. nest n. 6 and
nested ppl. a. 2. Also
intr. for pass., to admit of nesting.
| 1870 Eng. Mech. 4 Mar. 596/3 [Crucibles] are sold one in the other, and are then called ‘nested’. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 63/1 Glazed boxes round and square..are supplied ‘nested’, consequently of various depths. 1925 N. E. Odell in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest 1924 362 Two saucepans that nest into one another. 1961 D. V. Huntsberger Elem. Statist. Inference ix. 230 Situations of this sort, where every classification is nested within the next larger one, are called nested or hierarch[ic]al classifications. 1967 Klerer & Korn Digital Computer User's Handbk. i. i. 16 Groups of loops need not be strictly nested and may have parts which are done in parallel or parts which are done in series. 1968 J. Lyons Introd. Theoret. Linguistics vi. 233 In subordinative constructions one modifier may be recursively ‘nested’ within another. 1970 P. M. Sherman Techn. Computer Programming iii. 43 In many problems one loop is nested within another one. This occurs when a loop contains a box with a repetitious process that itself can be drawn as a loop. |
c. Used as a nest, or for making nests
in.
| 1844 Cheever On Bunyan's Pilgr. iv. (1847) 108 Leaves nested with worms and overcurled. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. (1886) 42 Chestnuts..nested in by song birds. |
5. intr. To go bird's-nesting.
| 1876 Bp. Hannington in Life x. (1887) 146, I nested in the Bishop's garden, and round the belfry tower for swifts' eggs. |
6. trans. To provide with a nesting-place.
| 1896 Woolley in Advance (Chicago) 305 Better be a vine and cling to some grand old pile..and nest its bats and owls. |
▪ III. nest obs. form of
next.