Dictionary

nidify en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈnɪd.əˌfaɪ/ (UK, US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

First attested in 1656; borrowed from Latin nīdificō (“to build a nest”), from nīdus (“nest”) + -ficō (“to make, build”). Doublet of nidificate and cognate with French nidifier.

Meanings

1. To make a nest.
   • Among the birds that nidify there and live throughout the year [...] the sultan bird detaches[.] 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 123:
   • It is only within the last few years that naturalists have clearly determined that some species of fish make nests for the reception of their spawn […] Five or six kinds are now ascertained to nidify; and of these, two belong to the genus Gasterosteus […] 1854, Albany Hancock, “Observations on the Nidification of Gasterosteus aculeatus and Gasterosteus spinachia”, in The Zoologist, 12: 4409:
   • […] it may originally have explained why dung beetles do not appear when eagles nidify; […] 1997, Gert-Jan van Dijk, Ainoi, Logoi, Mythoi: Fables in Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greek Culture, page 206:

Forms

Relateds

nidifugous

Synonyms

nest · nidulate · nidificate

Translations (16)

ro cuiba (to make a nest) · gl nidificar (to make a nest) · pl wić gniazdo (to make a nest) · it nidificare (to make a nest) · tr yuvalamak (to make a nest) · fi pesiä (to make a nest) · pt nidificar (to make a nest) · tr yuva yapmak (to make a nest) · fr nidifier (to make a nest) · la nīdificō (to make a nest) · ru вить гнездо́ (to make a nest) · pl gniazdować (to make a nest) · sh gnezditi (to make a nest) · fi rakentaa pesä (to make a nest) · es nidificar (to make a nest) · bg гнездя (to make a nest)