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fledge - 5 dictionary results

fledge

  [flej] verb, fledged, fledg⋅ing, adjective
Use fledge in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to bring up (a young bird) until it is able to fly.
2. to furnish with or as if with feathers or plumage.
3. to provide (an arrow) with feathers.
–verb (used without object)
4. (of a young bird) to acquire the feathers necessary for flight.
–adjective
5. Archaic. (of young birds) able to fly.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME flegge (fully-)fledged, OE *flecge, as var. of -flycge; c. OHG flucki, MLG vlügge (> G flügge); akin to fly 1

Related forms:
fledgeless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fledge
fledge   (flěj)   
v.   fledged, fledg·ing, fledg·es

v.   tr.
  1. To take care of (a young bird) until it is ready to fly.
  2. To cover with or as if with feathers.
  3. To provide (an arrow) with feathers.
v.   intr.
To grow the plumage necessary for flight.

[Probably from obsolete fledge, feathered, from Middle English flegge, from Old English *flycge; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.]

1. 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.

2. To furnish or adorn with any soft covering.

Your master, whose chin is not yet fledged. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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fledge 
O.E. flycge (Kentish fligge), from W.Gmc. *fluggja- (cf. M.Du. vlugge, Low Ger. flügge). Originally an adj. meaning "having the feathers, fit to fly." As a verb, it is first attested in Eng. 1566. Fledgling is first recorded 1830.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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