nurse

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury

   I nursed my cold with Chinese herbal remedies.

2. 2
   verb

   give suck to

   The wetnurse suckled the infant

3. 3
   verb

   treat carefully

   I nursed my injured back by lying in bed several hours every afternoon.

4. 4
   noun

   A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:

   My aunt was my nurse while I recuperated at home from surgery.

5. 5
   noun

   A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s children.

   They hired a nurse to care for their young boy.

6. 6
   noun

   One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, or fosters.

   Eton College has been called "the chief nurse of England's statesmen".

7. 7
   verb

   To breastfeed: to feed (a baby) at the breast; to suckle.

   She believes that nursing her baby will make him strong and healthy.

8. 8
   verb

   To care for (someone), especially in sickness; to tend to.

   She nursed him back to health.

Etymology

From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”).