unnestv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈnɛst/, U.S. /ˌənˈnɛst/ transitive. To remove from a nest; (chiefly figurative) to remove from a place of safety, comfort, or secrecy. In quot. a1413 intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > go or come out [verb (intransitive)] > from concealment, confinement, or obscurity
to break outOE
to come forthOE
to start outa1382
unnesta1413
to break covert (also cover)1602
untapis1602
unkennel1695
emerge1700
unburrow1744
tibble1840
tib1853
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > expel > from a lair, nest, or hole
unnestlec1450
unnest?1533
unkennel1565
unharbour1575
unden1598
unharborough1611
bolt1615
unearth1622
unburrow1860
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > expel > from seclusion or shelter
disharbour1566
to hunt out1576
unlodge1598
unnestle1598
unkennel1604
uncloister1611
unnest1683
discloister1881
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iv. l. 305 O soule lurkynge in þis wo vnneste Fle forth out of myn herte.
?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Hi To vnneste, denisér.
1640 G. Abbot Whole Bk. Iob Paraphr. xvi. 100/2 It is certaine that God will unnest and ruinate the hypocrites stocke and family.
1683 I. Walton Chalkhill's Thealma & Clearchus 120 Alexis rising, thanks his prudent care And as his Father lov'd him; all prepare T'unnest these Pyrates.
1753 ‘T. Broderick’ Lett. from Several Parts Europe & East I. xxxiii. 193 It was originally dedicated to St. Reta; but the new saints among the Roman catholics have a strange way of unnesting the old ones.
1790 A. Wilson Poems 35 As..seeming Doubts, when told, oft take to wing, Permit me here, some mis'ries to unnest, That long have harbour'd in my lab'ring breast.
1830 Lit. Souvenir 144 Who the devil would ever have expected to unnest such a bird, and in such regions as these! Did you ever see so lovely a Grecian face.
1879 H. W. Warren Recreations in Astron. iv. 58 The earth, on its softly-spinning axle, never jars enough to unnest a bird or wake a child.
1912 E. Pound tr. G. Cavalcanti Sonnets & Ballate 1 And there's perchance One born who shall un-nest both him and him.
1990 Sunday Times Mag. 30 Dec. 46/1 I'm going to un-nest the chimps... Un-nesting them means you..sit beneath the nest and wait for movement.
Derivatives
unˈnesting n. rare
ΚΠ
1900 W. H. Henley in T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel (new ed.) III. iv. xxx. 135 His Conscience, like the unnesting [earlier ed. unnestling] of a parcel of young Herns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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v.a1413