Definition of Nurse

1. Noun. One skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician).


2. Verb. Try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury. "Did he nurse his foot? "; "He nursed his cold with Chinese herbs"
Category relationships: Medicine, Practice Of Medicine
Generic synonyms: Care For, Treat
Derivative terms: Nursing

3. Noun. A woman who is the custodian of children.
Exact synonyms: Nanny, Nursemaid
Specialized synonyms: Dry Nurse, Mammy, Amah, Wet Nurse, Wet-nurse, Wetnurse
Generic synonyms: Keeper, Adult Female, Woman

4. Verb. Maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings). "Harbor a resentment"
Exact synonyms: Entertain, Harbor, Harbour, Hold
Generic synonyms: Experience, Feel

5. Verb. Serve as a nurse; care for sick or handicapped people.
Generic synonyms: Care, Give Care
Derivative terms: Nursing, Nursing

6. Verb. Treat carefully. "He nursed the flowers in his garden and fertilized them regularly"
Generic synonyms: Do By, Handle, Treat
Derivative terms: Nurser

7. Verb. Give suck to. "You cannot nurse your baby in public in some places"
Exact synonyms: Breastfeed, Give Suck, Lactate, Suck, Suckle, Wet-nurse
Related verbs: Suck
Generic synonyms: Feed, Give
Antonyms: Bottlefeed
Derivative terms: Lactation, Lactation, Lactation, Nursery, Nursing, Suck, Sucker

Definition of Nurse

1. n. One who nourishes; a person who supplies food, tends, or brings up; as: (a) A woman who has the care of young children; especially, one who suckles an infant not her own. (b) A person, especially a woman, who has the care of the sick or infirm.

2. v. t. To nourish; to cherish; to foster

Definition of Nurse

1. Noun. (archaic) A wet-nurse. ¹

2. Noun. A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s young. ¹

3. Noun. A person trained to provide care for the sick. ¹

4. Verb. to breast feed ¹

5. Verb. to care for the sick ¹

6. Verb. to treat kindly and with extra care ¹

7. Verb. to drink slowly ¹

8. Verb. to foster, to nourish ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Nurse

1. to care for the sick or infirm [v NURSED, NURSING, NURSES]

Medical Definition of Nurse

1. 1. To nourish; to cherish; to foster; as: To nourish at the breast; to suckle; to feed and tend, as an infant. 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." "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. To nurse billiard balls, to strike them gently and so as to keep them in good position during a series of caroms. Origin: Nursed; Nursing. 1. One who nourishes; a person who supplies food, tends, or brings up; as: A woman who has the care of young children; especially, one who suckles an infant not her own. A person, especially a woman, who has the care of the sick or infirm. 2. One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, fosters, or the like. "The nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise." (Burke) 3. A lieutenant or first officer, who is the real commander when the captain is unfit for his place. 4. A peculiar larva of certain trematodes which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction. See Cercaria, and Redia. Either one of the nurse sharks. Nurse shark. A large arctic shark (Somniosus microcephalus), having small teeth and feeble jaws; called also sleeper shark, and ground shark. A large shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), native of the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, having the dorsal fins situated behind the ventral fins. To put to nurse, or To put out to nurse, to send away to be nursed; to place in the care of a nurse. Wet nurse, Dry nurse. See Wet nurse, and Dry nurse, in the Vocabulary. Origin: OE. Nourse, nurice, norice, OF. Nurrice, norrice, nourrice, F. Nourrice, fr. L. Nutricia nurse, prop, fem. Of nutricius that nourishes; akin to nutrix, -icis, nurse, fr. Nutrire to nourish. See Nourish, and cf. Nutritious. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Nurse

nurdling
nurds
nurhag
nurhags
nurikabe
nurl
nurled
nurling
nurls
nurn
nurnie
nurnies
nurr
nurrs
nurs
nurse's aide
nurse-in
nurse-ins
nurse-midwife
nurse-patient relation
nurse-patient relations
nurse administrators
nurse anaesthetists
nurse clinician
nurse clinicians
nurse epidemiologist
nurse log

Literary usage of Nurse

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Social Welfare Forum: Official Proceedings ... Annual Forum by National Conference on Social Welfare, American Social Science Association, Conference of Charities (U.S., Conference of Charities (U.S.), National Conference of Social Work (U.S. (1902)
"BY MISS HARRIET FULMER, SUPERINTENDENT OF nurseS, VISITING nurse ASSOCIATION, CHICAGO. ... The trained nurse as a visitor to the homes of the sick poor is ..."

2. Public Affairs Information Service Bulletin by Public Affairs Information Service (1920)
"Pub Health nurse 12:162-6 F '20 An agreement between the American Red ... 144p *$1.35 '19 Macmillan City nurse as an agent for the prevention of infant ..."

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