| 释义 |
▪ I. nestling, n.|ˈnɛstlɪŋ, ˈnɛslɪŋ|
[ME. nestling, f. nest n. + -ling1, or nestle v.1 + -ing3, = MDu. nestlinc, Du. -ling, G. nest-, nist(e)ling.]
1. A young bird which is not yet old enough to leave the nest.
1399Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 395 The nedy nestlingis, whan they the note herde of the hende egle. 1611Cotgr., Niais, a neastling. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Nestlings, Canary-Birds, brought up by hand. 1773G. White Selborne xxxviii, These small weak birds, some of which were nestlings twelve days ago. 1801Southey Thalaba v. iv, The mother-bird had moved not, But cowering o'er her nestlings, Sate. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. iii. 62 We forget how largely these songsters,..or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds and beasts of prey.
transf.a1693Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xxxviii. 317 Nestling, ninny and youngling fool. 1860Reade Cloister & H. xxxviii, ‘Here is something hard lurking in this soft nest. Come forth, I say, little nestling!’.. It was a gold ring.
2. The youngest child of a family.
1572Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 388 Bartye Andersonne..was the nestlynge of all her doughters childre. 1597Hall Sat. ii. ii. 43 Second brothers, and poor nestlings Whom more injurious Nature later brings Into the naked world. 1853J. Raine Richmond Wills (Surtees) 160 note, His mother could give but a scanty portion to the nestling of her family.
3. attrib. with bird, cuckoo, nightingale, etc.
1772Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 325, I have taken four young ones from a hen skylark, and placed in their room five nestling nightingales. 1804Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 26 The attempt of a nestling bird to sing, may be compared with the imperfect endeavour of a child to talk. 1860All Year Round No. 63. 295 The nestling cuckoo ungratefully ejects his legitimate foster-brethren out of the family nest. 1889A. R. Wallace Darwinism 26 The destruction commences, and is probably most severe, with nestling birds.
▪ II. nestling, vbl. n.1|ˈnɛslɪŋ|
[f. nestle v.1 + -ing1; cf. MDu. nestelinge, G. nistelung.]
1. The action of the vb. in various senses.
c1440Promp. Parv. 354/1 Nestelynge, nidificacio. 1557Tusser Husb. 41 Nestling of verlettes..Make[s] many a rich man, to shet vp his doores. 1625Bacon Ess., Gardens (Arb.) 564 That the Birds may haue more Scope, and Natural Nestling. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. 10 Previous..to laying, the work of nestling becomes the common care. 1816L. Hunt Rimini iii. 409 Places of nestling green, for poets made.
†2. A place of settling. Obs. rare—1.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. x. §5 The secresies of the Passages, and the Seats or neastling of the humours.
3. Comb. as nestling-place.
1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 268 This little nestling place of her childhood. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 296 A tall inaccessible precipice..had furnished a secure nestling-place to a pair of ravens.
▪ III. nestling, vbl. n.2
see nestle v.2
▪ IV. ˈnestling, ppl. a.
[f. nestle v.1 + -ing2.]
That nestles, in various senses of the verb.
1839Longfellow Voices of Night Prel. viii, When nestling buds unfold their wings. 1846Dickens Battle of Life i, In the nestling town among the trees. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola Introd., The rosy warmth of nestling children. |