See also: Nestling

English

edit

Etymology 1

edit
 
Three nestlings.

From Middle English nestling, equivalent to nest +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

nestling (plural nestlings)

  1. A small, young bird that is still confined to the nest.
    Synonym: quab
  2. (obsolete) A nest; a receptacle.
Translations
edit

See also

edit

Etymology 2

edit

From nestle +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

nestling

  1. present participle and gerund of nestle
    • 1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:
      I certainly was not prepared for the cosy nestling valleys that snuggled against the shoulders of the hills; a land where the graystone cottages and farmsteads still prevailed, but where they had taken on something of the softness of their kind in Gloucester and the Cotswolds, and seemed almost like growths of the soil; [] .

Noun

edit

nestling (plural nestlings)

  1. The act of one who nestles.
    • 1871, Kate Neely Hill Festetits, Actions speak louder than words:
      It was associated, to them, with vague sweet memories of loving nestlings in mother's arms, of soft warm coddlings before the fire, of slow rocking to and fro in the little, low, flag chair, and gradual droppings off to sleep []

Anagrams

edit