leave the nest

English

Verb

leave the nest (third-person singular simple present leaves the nest, present participle leaving the nest, simple past and past participle left the nest)

1. To leave home; to stop living with one's parents.

   Synonym: fly the nest

   • 1987, Sue Vineyard, How to Take Care of You . . . So You Can Take Care of Others, →ISBN, page 31:

     At about the time that the last child is leaving the nest, elderly parents move to a point of needing assistance in their lives.

   • 1998, David Arp, Claudia Arp, The Second Half of Marriage, →ISBN:

     Soon after our last son left the nest, we decided to cash in some of our frequent flyer points for a summer vacation in Europe.

   • 2006, Margie Orford, Fabulously 40 and Beyond:women, →ISBN:

     I never left home - I married directly after I finished my university studies, and now that my own sons are leaving the nest, starting their own lives, I've realised that I never 'left home'.

2. To become independent; to begin to act without supervision or in ways that are not prescribed.
   • 2000, G. Srinivasan, From White Dwarfs to Black Holes: The Legacy of S. Chandrasekhar, →ISBN:

     He taught, seasoned, encouraged, and broadened all of us while we were his students, and he supported us greatly after we had left the nest.

   • 2009, Andrew I. Schafer, The Vanishing Physician-scientist?, →ISBN, page 162:

     Among the greatest physician-scientists of our time, Mike Brown and Joe Goldstein argue that the trainee is ready to leave the nest when she or he has acquired technical courage, a sufficient set of skills and experience and self-confidence to develop new tools when the need arises.

   • 2017, Mary Rannie, Gary Karr: Life on the G String, →ISBN:

     I was coming into my own, leaving the nest, combining “old school” techniques with fresh ideas. Reinshagen taught the Simandl method, but its limitations created problems that I have not resolved even to this day.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave,‎ nest.
   • 2006, Peter Ryan, Sasol Birdwatching in Southern Africa, →ISBN, page 84:

     Checking nests keeps the adult birds away from the nest, exposing the eggs and chicks to cold or heat, and can cause large chicks to leave the nest prematurely.

See also

• empty nest
• nidifugous