nidify

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.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɪd.əˌfaɪ/

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

1. (zoology) To make a nest.

   Synonyms: nidificate, nidulate, 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[.]

• indify