Definition

1. Noun:
   • A young bird that has not yet left the nest: A nestling is a bird that is too young to have grown the feathers necessary for flight and remains in the nest, dependent on its parents for food and care.
   • (Archaic or literary) A young child: In older or more poetic usage, "nestling" can refer to a young child, often implying a sense of being sheltered or protected within the home.

Usage and Examples

• Noun (Young Bird):
  • The mother robin returned to the nest to feed her hungry nestlings.
  • We found a fallen nestling under the tree and carefully placed it back in its nest.
• Noun (Young Child - Archaic/Literary):
  • The mother held her little nestling close. (This usage is now rare and sounds poetic.)

Advanced Usage

• As a term in ornithology: In scientific contexts, "nestling" specifically describes a bird in the stage between hatching and fledging (leaving the nest).
  • The nestling stage is critical for growth and development.

Variants and Related Words

• Nest (noun/verb): The structure where a bird lays eggs and raises young; to build or settle in such a structure.
• Fledgling (noun): A young bird that has just grown the feathers needed for flight and has left, or is about to leave, the nest. This is the stage immediately following the nestling stage.
• Hatchling (noun): A very recently hatched bird or other animal.

Synonyms

• Chick: A general term for a young bird.
• Fledgling: Specifically a young bird that has developed flight feathers. (Note: This is a subsequent stage, not a direct synonym for a bird still confined to the nest.)
• Youngster: A general term for a young person or animal. (This relates to the archaic "child" meaning.)

Notes on Meaning

• The primary and most common modern meaning of "nestling" is the young bird definition.
• The "young child" meaning is considered archaic and is rarely used in contemporary English outside of literary or deliberately old-fashioned contexts. The provided reference "tiddler" is a British informal term for a small child or fish, not a standard synonym for "nestling."

Noun

1. a young person of either sex
   • she writes books for children
   • they're just kids
   • `tiddler' is a British term for youngster
2. young bird not yet fledged