empty nest
English
Etymology
From birds whose offspring leave the nest when they reach maturity.
Noun
empty nest (plural empty nests)
- A home or a family where the children have grown up and moved away.
- 2011, Celia Dodd, The Empty Nest: Your Changing Family, Your New Direction, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
- One woman with a full-on and demanding career e-mailed me to say ‘This empty nest thing is no joke. I didn't realise it would hit me so hard. It is day three of my daughter being gone and I have to resist the urge to weep every time I go past her room.’
- 2014, Lisa O. Engelhardt, Empty Nest Therapy, Open Road Media, →ISBN:
- Yet an “empty nest” can cause confusing emotions for parents. While this juncture can bring on sadness and loneliness, it can also signal newfound freedom and fulfillment.
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- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see empty, nest.
Derived terms
- empty nester
Translations
home or family where the children have moved away
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See also
- leave the nest