nestle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nestlen, inherited from Old English nestlian (“to make a nest”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from nest and the verb suffix -lian, the source of -le.^{[7][8][9][10]} It is cognate with Middle Dutch nestelen, Dutch nestelen, Middle Low German nestelen and Middle High German nesteln.^{[5][11][8][6]} The OED and Hoad compare the Old English variant nistlian, also nistlan, whose cognates are Middle Dutch nistelen and Middle High German nisteln.^[5][10][3] Klein, alone among these sources, took the modern verb as probably a back-formation from nestling, mistaken for a present participle, rather than a continuation of the Old English verb.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a bird, to make a nest: Old English, in the Lambeth Psalter, Ðár spearwan nestliaþ, there the sparrows make their nests.^[3][5] Barnhart dates the Old English verb to about 1025.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb also meant to live in a nest, or to take shelter as if in one:^[2][9] a version of Layamon's Brut (about 1300) has herons nesting on islands,^[2][11] and the Wycliffite Bible (before 1382) uses it of people living or settling in a place, a sense obsolete by 1797.^[5] The reflexive sense, to establish oneself in a place, appears in 1547, and the transitive one, to set something securely as in a nest, in 1548.^[5] Etymonline dates the figurative sense "to settle oneself comfortably, snuggle" to the 1540s,^[9] while the OED and Barnhart find a person settling down snugly in 1687,^[5][11] and pressing one's head close in an affectionate way about 1696, in Prior.^[5][11] Pressing close to someone is recorded from 1709, in Steele's Tatler,^[5] and buildings or villages lying sheltered or half-hidden from 1842.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined the transitive verb as "to house, as in a nest" and "to cherish, as a bird her young", and the intransitive as "to settle; to harbour; to lie close and snug, as a bird in her nest".^[13] In English dialects nestle, also spelled nessel or nissel, was a noun for the youngest pig in a litter, and compounds such as nestle-cock and nestle-bird meant the smallest of a brood or the youngest child of a family.^[14]

Timeline

• Old English – of a bird, to make a nest.^[5][3]
• c. 1300 – Middle English nestlen, to build a nest or settle, in a version of Layamon's Brut.^[2][11]
• before 1382 – of people, to live or settle in a place (obsolete by 1797).^[5]
• c. 1450 – of a bird, to lodge or settle as in a nest.^[5]
• 1547 – reflexive, to establish oneself in a place.^[5]
• 1548 – transitive, to place as in a nest.^[5]
• 1567 – of a thing, to lie snugly or half-hidden.^[5]
• 1687 – of a person, to settle down snugly.^[5][11]
• c. 1696 – to press one's head snugly or affectionately.^[5][11]
• 1709 – to press close to someone affectionately.^[5]
• 1842 – of a building or village, to lie sheltered.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To settle snugly and comfortably; to snuggle or cuddle up: The cat nestled into the folds of the blanket.^[15][7][5]
2. To press close to someone affectionately: She nestled against her father's shoulder.^[7][5]
3. To lie in a sheltered or half-hidden position: A small chapel nestles among the pines.^[15][7][5]
4. To settle or place something snugly, as in a nest: He nestled the eggs in a bed of straw.^[15][5]
5. (archaic) To make or occupy a nest.^[7][5]
6. (archaic) To make one's home; to take up residence.^[7][5]

Word family

• nestler

Related words

• nest
• nestling

Usage notes

The OED also records nestle meaning to fidget or be restless, from 1699, in the Canting Crew's dictionary; its origin is uncertain, perhaps a special use of this verb or a variant of nettle, and the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Surrey, Sussex and the northern counties.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins