nidify

English

WOTD – 24 March 2010

Etymology

From Latin nīdificō (“build a nest”), from nīdus (“nest”) + faciō (“make, do”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɪd.əˌfaɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Verb

nidify (third-person singular simple present nidifies, present participle nidifying, simple past and past participle nidified)

1. (zoology) To make a nest.
   • 1854, Albany Hancock, “Observations on the Nidification of Gasterosteus aculeatus and Gasterosteus spinachia”, in The Zoologist, 12: 4409:

     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 […]

   • 1997, Gert-Jan van Dijk, Ainoi, Logoi, Mythoi: Fables in Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greek Culture, page 206:

     […] it may originally have explained why dung beetles do not appear when eagles nidify; […]

   • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 123:

     Among the birds that nidify there and live throughout the year [...] the sultan bird detaches[.]

Synonyms

• nidificate, nidulate

Related terms

and see: nidifugous

Translations

to make a nest

• Bulgarian: гнездя (bg) (gnezdja)
• Finnish: pesiä (fi), rakentaa pesä
• French: nidifier (fr)
• Galician: nidificar (gl)
• Italian: nidificare
• Latin: nīdificō
• Polish: gniazdować (pl), wić (pl) gniazdo (pl)
• Portuguese: nidificar (pt)
• Romanian: cuiba (ro)
• Russian: вить (ru) (vitʹ) гнездо́ (ru) m (gnezdó)
• Serbo-Croatian: gnezditi
• Spanish: nidificar (es)
• Turkish: yuvalamak (tr), yuva yapmak (tr)

Anagrams

• indify