[Vocabulary] please explain the underlined phrase

[mutena24]

Hello,

I read a novel. Its name is "61hours" by Lee Child. There is a phrase that I did not understand completely.

"He emptied his trouser pockets of keys, and wallet, and cell phone, and coins, and nested those clean warm personal items on top of his jacket. He picked up the grey plastic bin. Didn't carry it to X-Ray belt. Instead he hefted it across the room to a small window in a wall. He waited there and a woman in uniform took it and gave him a numbered ticket in exchange for it."

I am a little bit confused for this. In here is "nested"adjective or verb? Also does "those clean warm personal items" indicate "keys, wallet, cell phone and coins" ? If it does, could you explain "clean" and "warm" in this meaning. If it doesn't, what does "clean warm personal items" mean?

Thank you very much

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, "nested" is a verb. His jacket was the "nest" (it's soft and he could make a little dent into it) and by placing the items there, he nested them. We have a big, fluffy comforter on our bed and one of my cats likes to make a spot for herself so that the comforter is around her, not just under her. We say she is "nesting" (though we could say that she has "nested herself" on the bed).

They were in his pockets, so they picked up some of his body heat - that's why they were warm. Maybe he thought the bins were dirty (people shoes go in them too) and the contrast between the dirty bins and the things in his pocket made him think that they were particulalry "clean." I dont' usually think much about how clean my keys are, but if I had to put my wallet in a dirty bin, I might say "I dont' want to put my clean wallet in that thing!"