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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bird's-nest

Bird's nest \Bird's" nest`\, or Bird's-nest \Bird's-nest\, n.

  1. The nest in which a bird lays eggs and hatches her young.

  2. (Cookery) The nest of a small swallow ( Collocalia nidifica and several allied species), of China and the neighboring countries, which is mixed with soups.

    Note: The nests are found in caverns and fissures of cliffs on rocky coasts, and are composed in part of alg[ae]. They are of the size of a goose egg, and in substance resemble isinglass. See Illust. under Edible.

  3. (Bot.) An orchideous plant with matted roots, of the genus Neottia ( Neottia nidus-avis).

    Bird's-nest pudding, a pudding containing apples whose cores have been replaced by sugar.

    Yellow bird's nest, a plant, the Monotropa hypopitys.