fledge

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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fledge (third-person singular simple present fledges, present participle fledging, simple past and past participle fledged)

  1. (transitive) To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight.
  2. (intransitive) To grow, cover or be covered with feathers.
  3. (transitive) To decorate with feathers.
  4. (intransitive) To complete the last moult and become a winged adult insect.

Derived terms

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Adjective

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fledge (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Feathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      his shoulders, fledge with wings