• IPA: /nɛst/

From Middle English nest, nist, nyst, from Old English nest, from Proto-West Germanic *nest, from Proto-Germanic *nestą, from Proto-Indo-European *nisdós, literally "where [the bird] sits down", a compound of *ni (whence also English nether) + the zero-grade of the root *sed- (whence also English sit).

nest (plural nests)

1. A structure built by a bird as a place to incubate eggs and rear young.
2. A place used by another mammal, fish, amphibian or insect, for depositing eggs and hatching young.
3. A snug, comfortable, or cosy residence or job situation.
4. A retreat, or place of habitual resort.
5. A hideout for bad people to frequent or haunt; a den.

   a nest of thieves

   That nightclub is a nest of strange people!

   • 1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Capt. Edward England, and His Crew. [A Letter from Captain Makra, dated at Bombay, Nov. 16, 1720.]”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC ↗, page 119 ↗:

     Capt. Kirby and I concluding it might be of great Service to the Eaſt-India Company to deſtroy such a Neſt of Rogues, were ready to ſail for that Purpoſe […]

6. A home that a child or young adult shares with a parent or guardian.

   I am aspiring to leave the nest.

7. (cards) A fixed number of cards in some bidding games awarded to the highest bidder allowing him to exchange any or all with cards in his hand.

   I was forced to change trumps when I found the ace, jack, and nine of diamonds in the nest.

8. (military) A fortified position for a weapon.

   a machine gun nest

9. (computing) A structure consisting of nested structures, such as nested loops or nested subroutine calls.
   • 1993 August, Bwolen Yang et al., "Do&Merge: Integrating Parallel Loops and Reductions", in Languages and Compilers for Parallel Computing (workshop proceedings), Springer (1994), ISBN 978-3-540-57659-4, page 178 ↗:

     Our analysis to this point has assumed that in a loop nest, we are only parallelizing a single loop.

10. A circular bed of pasta, rice, etc. to be topped or filled with other foods.
11. (geology) An aggregated mass of any ore or mineral, in an isolated state, within a rock.
12. A collection of boxes, cases, or the like, of graduated size, each put within the one next larger.
13. A compact group of pulleys, gears, springs, etc., working together or collectively.
14. (vulgar, slang, now, US) The pubic hair near a vulva or a vulva itself.

    Synonyms: beav, beaver

• nestling

• French: nid
• German: Vogelnest, Nest
• Italian: nido
• Portuguese: ninho
• Russian: гнездо́
• Spanish: nido

• French: nid
• German: Nest
• Italian: nido
• Portuguese: ninho
• Russian: гнездо́
• Spanish: nido

• French: nid, chez-soi, chez-moi
• German: Nest
• Italian: nido
• Portuguese: ninho
• Russian: гнёздышко
• Spanish: nido

• French: refuge
• German: Nest
• Italian: nido
• Portuguese: retiro
• Russian: приста́нище

• French: repaire
• German: Nest
• Italian: nido
• Portuguese: covil, esconderijo
• Russian: прито́н
• Spanish: cueva

• German: Nest

From Middle English nesten, nisten, from Old English nistan, nistian, from Proto-West Germanic *nistijan.

nest (nests, present participle nesting; simple past and past participle nested)

1. (intransitive, of animals) To build or settle into a nest.
2. (intransitive) To settle into a home.

   We loved the new house and were nesting there in two days!

3. (intransitive) To successively neatly fit inside another.

   I bought a set of nesting mixing bowls for my mother.

4. (transitive) To place in, or as if in, a nest.
5. (transitive) To place one thing neatly inside another, and both inside yet another (and so on).

   There would be much more room in the attic if you had nested all the empty boxes.

6. (intransitive) To hunt for birds' nests or their contents (usually "go nesting").
   • 1895, Alfred Emanuel Smith, Francis Walton, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     After the first heavy frost, when acorns were falling, I took a friend into partnership and went nesting.

• French: nicher, nidifier
• German: nisten, einnisten
• Italian: annidarsi
• Portuguese: aninhar, fazer ninho
• Russian: гнездова́ться
• Spanish: anidar

• French: emménager
• Portuguese: mudar-se

• French: s'emboîter
• Portuguese: encaixar

• French: emboîter
• Portuguese: aninhar

Two possible origins:

• Welsh - metronymic surname, from a diminutive of the personal name Agnes.
• Borrowed from German Nest, probably a topographic surname.

1. Surname.

nest (plural nests)

1. (education) Initialism of native English-speaking teacher