nurse

Meanings

Noun

• A wet nurse.
• A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s young.
• A person trained to provide care for the sick.
• One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, or fosters.
• A shrub or tree that protects a young plant.
• A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.
• A larva of certain trematodes, which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction.
• A nurse shark.

Verb

• To breastfeed: to feed (a baby) at the breast; to suckle.
• To breastfeed: to be fed at the breast.
• To care for (someone), especially in sickness; to tend to.
• To treat kindly and with extra care
• To manage with care and economy
• To drink slowly, to make it last
• To foster, to nourish
• To hold closely to one's chest
• To strike (billiard balls) gently, so as to keep them in good position during a series of shots.

Origin

• From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Latin nūtrīcius ("that nourishes"), from nūtrīx, from nūtriō.