nest egg

noun

Synonyms of nest eggnext
1
: a natural or artificial egg left in a nest especially to induce a hen to continue to lay there
2
: a fund of money accumulated as a reserve

Examples of nest egg in a Sentence

They built up a nest egg for their son's college education. paid for the computer out of his nest egg
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
All that was left of their nest egg was $57,533, which went to her husband. Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Apr. 2026 Older age brackets tend to have larger nest eggs, but even workers who are nearing retirement often fall short. Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 1 Apr. 2026 America’s retirement savings system has been frozen in place for the past 20 years, leaving workers with limited options for growing their nest eggs even as innovation transformed the investing landscape. MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026 Some lose more than $100,000 to fraud Unfortunately, some people are losing huge chunks of their retirement nest eggs to elaborate ongoing forms of fraud. Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 28 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for nest egg

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nest egg was in the 14th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Nest egg.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nest%20egg. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.

Kids Definition

nest egg

noun
: a fund of money set aside as a reserve
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster