A woman that has the care of infants, or a woman employed to tend the children of others.

Awoman who suckles infants.

A woman that has the care of a sick person.

Aman who has the care of the sick.

A person that breeds, educates or protects; hence, that which breeds, brings up or causes to grow; as Greece, the nurse of the liberal arts.

An old woman; in contempt.

The state of being nursed; as, to put a child to nurse.

In composition, that which supplies food; as a nurse-pond.

To tend, as infants; as, to nurse a child.

To suckle; to nourish at the breast.

To attend and take care of in child-bed; as, to nurse a woman in her illness.

To tend the sick; applied to males and females.

To feed; to maintain; to bring up. Isaiah 60:4.

To cherish; to foster; to encourage; to promote growth in. We say, to nurse a feeble animal or plant. By what hands has vice been nursed into so uncontrolled a dominion?

To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase; as, to nurse our national resources.