At the time the Eighth Amendment was adopted, the Court noted, ``the word `fine' was understood to mean a payment to a sovereign as punishment for some offense.''\33\ The Eighth Amendment itself, as were antecedents of the Clause in the Virginia Declaration of Rights and in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, ``clearly was adopted with the particular intent of placing limits on the powers of the new government.''\34\ Therefore, while leaving open the issues of whether the Clause ...
A reserve of money set aside, especially for a specific purpose. Generally speaking, a nest egg refers to savings for a major expense, such as retirement. However, it may also refer to smaller expenses that nonetheless require savings. Examples of the latter include nest eggs for vacations or down payments for a house.
The meaning and origin of the expression: A nest-egg. A nest-egg. Meaning. Savings, set aside for later use. Origin. The allusion is to putting a real or china egg into a hen's nest to encourage her to lay. The connection between this and the 'savings' meaning isn't exactly clear. It may be that the idea was that the egg that was put into the nest could be later retrieved, after the hen had laid. The practise of putting eggs into nests as an inducement to laying more is recorded from as early as the 14th century. The use of nest-egg' to refer to savings goes back to at least 1686. In 1927, Locke & Clarke printed a set of letters from that date, which included this: