fledge

verb

\ ˈflej

fledged; fledging

Definition of fledge

of a young bird : to acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent activity also : to leave the nest after acquiring such feathers

transitive verb

1 : to rear until ready for flight or independent activity

2 : to cover with or as if with feathers or down

3 : to furnish (something) with feathers feather an arrow

Examples of fledge in a Sentence

The young birds haven't yet fledged.

Recent Examples on the Web

Becoming a fully-fledged, respected designer came with its hurdles, though, like the assumption that Beckham's interest in fashion was of the fleeting variety. — Halie Lesavage, Glamour, "How Victoria Beckham Went From Posh Spice to Prestige Fashion Designer," 17 Sep. 2018 The newspaper report said the agreements, numbering as many as 60 and struck as far back as a decade ago, were made before smartphones became powerful enough to run fully-fledged apps such as those running on devices today. — Mike Snider, USA TODAY, "Facebook denies abuse of user privacy after report it shared info without consent," 4 June 2018 According to Il Messaggero, the Lazio number one is valued by the club at £26.4m, and would present Liverpool with a cheap option to replace the fledging Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet in goal. — SI.com, "Liverpool Eye Move for Serie A Star Goalkeeper as Club Continue Search for Loris Karius Replacement," 13 June 2018 Musburger is the nephew of veteran broadcaster Brent, who's a cornerstone of the fledging company and also hosts a VSiN podcast. — Rick Maese, chicagotribune.com, "A safe bet: Legal gambling could change the way we watch, talk and experience sports," 5 July 2018 Our brief, but exciting journey following the breeding, nesting, hatching and fledging by a family of house wrens is about over. — Ernie Cowan, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Seven for Seven - all the wren eggs hatch," 19 May 2018 Now that chicks have fledged, territories will be abandoned and attention will turn to fattening up for migration. — Taylor Piephoff, charlotteobserver, "Bird activity slows this time of year, but it’ll pick up soon," 27 June 2018 So how did Durant change the Warriors, turning them from a burgeoning power into a full-fledged dynasty? — Ron Kroichick, SFChronicle.com, "Warriors dynasty defined: Before KD, and after KD," 16 June 2018 If the public doesn’t step up quickly, the three elegant raptors that are about to fledge from their nest in UC Berkeley’s equally elegant bell tower could go through life as Fluffy, Cottonball and Marshmallow. — Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, "For baby raptors, cuddly names may not fly — UC seeks suggestions," 24 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fledge.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.