fledge
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
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
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
fledge (third-person singular simple present fledges, present participle fledging, simple past and past participle fledged)
- (transitive) To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight.
- (intransitive) To grow, cover or be covered with feathers.
- (transitive) To decorate with feathers.
- (intransitive) To complete the last moult and become a winged adult insect.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Adjective edit
fledge (not comparable)
- (archaic) Feathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- his shoulders, fledge with wings