foster

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   providing or receiving nurture or parental care though not related by blood or legal ties

   foster parent

2. 2
   adj

   Providing parental care to children not related to oneself.

   foster parents

3. 3
   adj

   Receiving such care.

   a foster child

4. 4
   adj

   Related by such care.

   We are a foster family.

5. 5
   noun

   A foster parent.

   Some fosters end up adopting.

6. 6
   verb

   To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.

   Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

7. 7
   verb

   To promote the development of something; to cultivate and grow a thing.

   Our company fosters an appreciation for the arts.

8. 8
   verb

   To be nurtured or trained up together.

   There Florimell, in her first ages flowre, And passing beautie did eftsoones reveale, Was fostered by those Graces

Etymology

From Middle English foster, from Old English fōstor (“food, sustenance”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōstr, from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą (“nourishment, food”). Cognate with Middle Dutch voester (“nursemaid”), Middle Low German vôster (“food”), Old Norse fóstr (“nurturing, education, alimony, child support”), Danish foster (“fetus”), Swedish foster (“fetus”).