leave the nest

leave the nest (third-person singular simple present leaves the nest, present participle leaving the nest, simple past and past participle left the nest)

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

   Synonym: fly the nest

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

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

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

     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.

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

     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'.

2. To become independent; to begin to act without supervision or in ways that are not prescribed.
   • 2000, G. Srinivasan, From White Dwarfs to Black Holes: The Legacy of S. Chandrasekhar, →ISBN:

     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.

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

     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.

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

     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.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave,‎ nest.
   • 2006, Peter Ryan, Sasol Birdwatching in Southern Africa, →ISBN, page 84:

     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.

• empty nest
• nidifugous