Refine this word faster
Nurse
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:; Anyone performing this role, regardless of training or profession. informal
"My aunt was my nurse while I recuperated at home from surgery."
- 2 A nurse shark or dogfish.
- 3 a woman who is the custodian of children wordnet
- 4 A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:; A medical worker performing this role, typically someone trained to provide such care but having credentials and rank below a doctor or physician assistant.
"The nurse made her rounds through the hospital ward."
- 5 one skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician) wordnet
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:; A medical worker, such as a registered nurse, having training, credentials, and rank above a nurse assistant.
- 7 A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s children.
"They hired a nurse to care for their young boy."
- 8 One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, or fosters. figuratively
"Eton College has been called "the chief nurse of England's statesmen"."
- 9 A shrub or tree that protects a young plant.
- 10 A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.
- 11 A larva of certain trematodes, which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction.
- 12 A wet nurse. archaic
- 1 To breastfeed: to feed (a baby) at the breast; to suckle. transitive
"She believes that nursing her baby will make him strong and healthy."
- 2 try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury wordnet
- 3 To breastfeed: to be fed at the breast. intransitive
- 4 give suck to wordnet
- 5 To care for (someone), especially in sickness; to tend to. transitive
"She nursed him back to health."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings) wordnet
- 7 To tend gently and with extra care. transitive
"She nursed the rosebush and that season it bloomed."
- 8 treat carefully wordnet
- 9 To manage or oversee (something) with care and economy. transitive
- 10 serve as a nurse; care for sick or handicapped people wordnet
- 11 To drink (a beverage) slowly, so as to make it last. informal, transitive
"Rob was nursing a small beer."
- 12 To cultivate or persistently entertain (an attitude, usually negative) in one's mind; to brood or obsess over. figuratively, transitive
"to nurse a grudge"
- 13 To hold closely to one's chest. transitive
"Would you like to nurse the puppy?"
- 14 To strike (billiard balls) gently, so as to keep them in good position during a series of shots. transitive
"It is to our interest to let Lee and Johnston come together, just as a billiard-player would nurse the balls when he has them in a nice place"
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”).
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”).
Uncertain; earlier (16th century) nusse, nuse. Perhaps from huss, through metanalysis of "an huss" as "a nuss".
See also for "nurse"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: nurse