a woman who has the general care of a child or children; dry nurse.
3.
a woman employed to suckle an infant; wet nurse.
4.
any fostering agency or influence.
5.
Entomology. a worker that attends the young in a colony of social insects.
6.
Billiards. the act of maintaining the position of billiard balls in preparation for a carom.
–verb (used with object)
7.
to tend or minister to in sickness, infirmity, etc.
8.
to try to cure (an ailment) by taking care of oneself: to nurse a cold.
9.
to look after carefully so as to promote growth, development, etc.; foster; cherish: to nurse one's meager talents.
10.
to treat or handle with adroit care in order to further one's own interests: to nurse one's nest egg.
11.
to use, consume, or dispense very slowly or carefully: He nursed the one drink all evening.
12.
to keep steadily in mind or memory: He nursed a grudge against me all the rest of his life.
13.
to suckle (an infant).
14.
to feed and tend in infancy.
15.
to bring up, train, or nurture.
16.
to clasp or handle carefully or fondly: to nurse a plate of food on one's lap.
17.
Billiards. to maintain the position of (billiard balls) for a series of caroms.
–verb (used without object)
18.
to suckle a child, esp. one's own.
19.
(of a child) to suckle: The child did not nurse after he was three months old.
20.
to act as nurse; tend the sick or infirm.
[Origin: 1350–1400; (n.) ME, var. of n(o)urice, norice < OF < LL nūtrīcia, n. use of fem. of L nūtrīciusnutritious; (v.) earlier nursh (reduced form of nourish), assimilated to the n.]
—Synonyms 9. encourage, abet, help, aid, back. 14. rear, raise. Nurse,nourish,nurture may be used almost interchangeably to refer to bringing up the young. Nurse, however, suggests attendance and service; nourish emphasizes providing whatever is needful for development; and nurture suggests tenderness and solicitude in training mind and manners.
A person educated and trained to care for the sick or disabled.
A woman employed to take care of a child; a nursemaid.
A woman employed to suckle children other than her own; a wet nurse.
One that serves as a nurturing or fostering influence or means: "Town life is the nurse of civilization"(C.L.R. James).
Zoology A worker ant or bee that feeds and cares for the colony's young.
v.
nursed, nurs·ing, nurs·es
v.
tr.
To serve as a nurse for: nursed the patient back to health.
To cause or allow to take milk from the breast: a mother nursing her baby.
To feed at the breast of; suckle.
To try to cure by special care or treatment: nurse a cough with various remedies.
To treat carefully, especially in order to prevent pain: He nursed his injured knee by shifting his weight to the other leg.
To manage or guide carefully; look after with care; foster: nursed her business through the depression. See Synonyms at nurture.
To bear privately in the mind: nursing a grudge.
To consume slowly, especially in order to conserve: nursed one drink all evening.
v.
intr.
To serve as a nurse.
To take nourishment from the breast; suckle.
[Middle English norice, nurse, wet nurse, from Old French norrice, from Vulgar Latin *nutrīcia, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, from feminine of Latin nūtrīcius, that suckles, from nūtrīx, nūtrīc-, wet nurse; see (s)nāu- in Indo-European roots.]
Nurse\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nursed; p. pr. & vb. n. Nursing.]1. To nourish; to cherish; to foster; as: (a) To nourish at the breast; to suckle; to feed and tend, as an infant. (b) To take care of or tend, as a sick person or an invalid; to attend upon. Sons wont to nurse their parents in old age. --Milton. Him in Egerian groves Aricia bore, And nursed his youth along the marshy shore. --Dryden. 2. To bring up; to raise, by care, from a weak or invalid condition; to foster; to cherish; -- applied to plants, animals, and to any object that needs, or thrives by, attention. "To nurse the saplings tall." --Milton. By what hands [has vice] been nursed into so uncontrolled a dominion? --Locke. 3. To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase; as, to nurse our national resources. 4. To caress; to fondle, as a nurse does. --A. Trollope. To nurse billiard balls, to strike them gently and so as to keep them in good position during a series of caroms.
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