n. | 1. | 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. | One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, fosters, or the like. |
| 3. | (Naut.) A lieutenant or first officer, who is the real commander when the captain is unfit for his place. |
| 4. | (Zool.) A peculiar larva of certain trematodes which produces cercariæ by asexual reproduction. See Cercaria, and Redia. |
v. t. | 1. | To nourish; to cherish; to foster |
| 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. |
| 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. |
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