| / English Dictionary |
NESTLED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Drawn or pressed close to someone or something for or as if for affection or protection
Example:
like a baby snuggled in its mother's arms
Synonyms:
nestled; snuggled
Classified under:
Similar:
close (at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb nestle
Context examples:
But as she sat she bethought herself of the egg that the moon had given her; and when she broke it, there ran out a hen and twelve chickens of pure gold, that played about, and then nestled under the old one’s wings, so as to form the most beautiful sight in the world.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
“I had only my own family to study from. There is my father—another of my father—but the idea of sitting for his picture made him so nervous, that I could only take him by stealth; neither of them very like therefore. Mrs. Weston again, and again, and again, you see. Dear Mrs. Weston! always my kindest friend on every occasion. She would sit whenever I asked her. There is my sister; and really quite her own little elegant figure!—and the face not unlike. I should have made a good likeness of her, if she would have sat longer, but she was in such a hurry to have me draw her four children that she would not be quiet. Then, here come all my attempts at three of those four children;—there they are, Henry and John and Bella, from one end of the sheet to the other, and any one of them might do for any one of the rest. She was so eager to have them drawn that I could not refuse; but there is no making children of three or four years old stand still you know; nor can it be very easy to take any likeness of them, beyond the air and complexion, unless they are coarser featured than any of mama's children ever were. Here is my sketch of the fourth, who was a baby. I took him as he was sleeping on the sofa, and it is as strong a likeness of his cockade as you would wish to see. He had nestled down his head most conveniently. That's very like. I am rather proud of little George. The corner of the sofa is very good. Then here is my last,”—unclosing a pretty sketch of a gentleman in small size, whole-length—“my last and my best—my brother, Mr. John Knightley.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I did so: she put her arm over me, and I nestled close to her.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Too weak to wonder at anything, she only smiled and nestled close in the loving arms about her, feeling that the hungry longing was satisfied at last.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
It was a wailing child this night, and a laughing one the next: now it nestled close to me, and now it ran from me; but whatever mood the apparition evinced, whatever aspect it wore, it failed not for seven successive nights to meet me the moment I entered the land of slumber.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Beth nestled up to her, and whispered softly, "I wish I could send my bunch to Father. I'm afraid he isn't having such a merry Christmas as we are."
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
When tea was over and Mrs. Fairfax had taken her knitting, and I had assumed a low seat near her, and Adele, kneeling on the carpet, had nestled close up to me, and a sense of mutual affection seemed to surround us with a ring of golden peace, I uttered a silent prayer that we might not be parted far or soon; but when, as we thus sat, Mr. Rochester entered, unannounced, and looking at us, seemed to take pleasure in the spectacle of a group so amicable—when he said he supposed the old lady was all right now that she had got her adopted daughter back again, and added that he saw Adele was prete a croquer sa petite maman Anglaise—I half ventured to hope that he would, even after his marriage, keep us together somewhere under the shelter of his protection, and not quite exiled from the sunshine of his presence.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
She only saw his chest rise and fall, with a long breath that might have been a sigh, and the hand that wore the ring nestled down into the grass, as if to hide something too precious or too tender to be spoken of.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Are you satisfied with your experiment, girls, or do you want another week of it? she asked, as Beth nestled up to her and the rest turned toward her with brightening faces, as flowers turn toward the sun.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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