Crossword clues for fledge
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fledge \Fledge\, a. [OE. flegge, flygge; akin to D. vlug, G. fl["u]gge, fl["u]cke, OHG. flucchi, Icel. fleygr, and to E. fly. [root]84. See Fly, v. i.] Feathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly.
His shoulders, fledge with wings.
--Milton.
Fledge \Fledge\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Fledged; p. pr. & vb. n. Fledging.]
-
To furnish with feathers; to supply with the feathers necessary for flight.
The birds were not as yet fledged enough to shift for themselves.
--L'Estrange. -
To furnish or adorn with any soft covering.
Your master, whose chin is not yet fledged.
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"to acquire feathers," 1560s, from Old English adjective *-flycge (Kentish -flecge; in unfligge "featherless," glossing Latin implumes) "having the feathers developed, fit to fly," from Proto-Germanic *flugja- "ready to fly" (cognates: Middle Dutch vlugge, Low German flügge), from PIE *pleuk- "to fly" (see fletcher). Meaning "bring up a bird" (until it can fly on its own) is from 1580s. Related: Fledged; fledging.
Wiktionary
(context archaic English) Feathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly. v
1 (context transitive English) To care for a young bird until it is capable of flight. 2 (context intransitive English) To grow, cover or be covered with feathers. 3 (context transitive English) To decorate with feathers.
WordNet
Wikipedia
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state. A young bird that has recently fledged but is still dependent upon parental care and feeding is called a fledgling.
In ornithology, the meaning of fledging varies, depending on species. Birds are sometimes considered fledged once they leave the nest, even if they still cannot fly. Some definitions of fledge take it to mean the independence of the chick from the adults. Adults will often continue to feed the chick after it has left the nest and is able to fly.
One species, the ancient murrelet, fledges two days after hatching, running from its burrow to the ocean and its calling parents. Once it reaches the ocean, its parents care for it for several weeks. Other species, such as guillemots and some cormorants, leave the nesting site while they are still unable, or barely able, to fly. The fledging behaviour of the guillemot is spectacular; the adult will lead the chick through the colony if possible, for large drops like cliffs, it will fly down and call to its young. The chick will then launch itself off the cliff, attempting to fly as far as possible, crash landing on the ground below before continuing its run towards the ocean.
Category:Ornithology Category:Bird breeding
Usage examples of "fledge".
On the engineering tie-in screen to his left, he saw Trip Tucker standing before the throbbing warp core, looking like an eaglet about to fledge.
He fledged it with the purple feathers of the lourie, and padded the tip with a ball of tanned spring buck skin stuffed with sunbird feathers so that it would inflict no pain or injury on Letee.
Even fledged fielders back in Anche showed more respect, he thought darkly, choosing to ignore the fact that most of the respect had been directed toward the professors and not the Polytext students who trailed after them.
But, less than a week later when we had made one combat drop with them, we were full fledged Roughnecks, members of the family, called by our first names, chewed out on occasion without any feeling on either side that we were less than blood brothers thereby, borrowed from and lent to, included in bull sessions and privileged to express our own silly opinions with complete freedomand have them slapped down just as freely.
The Furies seized a dozen toys at random, took them inside their inhuman ship, and upgraded their intelligence, turning them from simple preprogrammed servants into fully fledged independent AIs.
I went to market with the boy twice, taking fledged chickens and my inks and dyes and such roots and herbs as I thought might be unusual there.
He was, in her estimation, a harmless boy, scarcely fledged as yet, but anxious to convince everyone that he was a buck of the first head.
Raptor mothers-with the exception of Barn Owls-continue to feed the youngsters and teach them to hunt after they've fledged, but sometimes wind and weather again carry the kids off beyond finding their way back to mom.
The Grounds was divided into Land, Space, and Thought, and training in each area was mandatory for fledges, those birds embarking on hawk training.
Soon the wind was in their faces and Fledges wings settled down to a steady beat.
But when they were fertile, they were like spotted hunting cats—sharing a territory just long enough to raise the dragonets to fledging, then parting again, and they would fight the dragon that had been a mate if there was a conflict over food, flock rank, or perches.
Only once in my wretched life did I make a fledging and that was over a century ago.
Though I couldn't read his thoughts as a fledging, surely I could divine something of what went on in his soul.
Colonel Jesse Wind, the chief of staff of the USE's fledging Air Force, was flying from Grantville to attend the first meeting of the combined chiefs of the armed forces.
Smith had ordered them lit after he was informed that Wind had allowed one of his fledging aviators to navigate their flight all the way from Grantville.