leave the nest

present singular third person leaves the nest · participle present leaving the nest · participle past left the nest · past left the nest

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

   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.

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

   2 more examples

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

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

   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'.

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

   Synonyms: fly the nest

2. idiomaticTo become independent; to begin to act without supervision or in ways that are not prescribed.

   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.

   2000, G. Srinivasan, From White Dwarfs to Black Holes: The Legacy of S. Chandrasekhar, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

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

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave, nest.

   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.

   2006, Peter Ryan, Sasol Birdwatching in Southern Africa, →ISBN, page 84