Fledge
/flɛd͡ʒ/ adj, verb
adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight. transitive
- 2 grow feathers wordnet
- 3 To grow, cover or be covered with feathers. intransitive
- 4 decorate with feathers wordnet
- 5 To decorate with feathers. transitive
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 feed, care for, and rear young birds for flight wordnet
- 7 To complete the last moult and become a winged adult insect. intransitive
Adjective
- 1 Feathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly. archaic, not-comparable
"his shoulders, fledge with wings"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The hornbill nestlings are ready to fledge."
Etymology
From Middle English flegge, fligge, flygge, from Old English *flyċġe (“able to fly, fledged”) (attested in *unflyċġe, unfligge (“unfledged”)), from Proto-West Germanic *flugi, from Proto-Germanic *flugjaz (“able to fly, fledged”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to run, flow, be swift, flee, fly”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Dutch vlug (“fledged, able to fly, nimble, swift”), Low German flügg (“fledged”), German flügge, German flücke (“fledged”), Icelandic fleygur (“able to fly, fledged”)