nurse

[[t]nɜ͟ː(r)s[/t]]

♦♦♦

nurses, nursing, nursed

1) N-COUNT; N-TITLE; N-VOC A nurse is a person whose job is to care for people who are ill.

She had spent 29 years as a nurse...

Patients were dying because of an acute shortage of nurses.

2) VERB If you nurse someone, you care for them when they are ill.

[V n] All the years he was sick my mother had nursed him...

[V n back to n] She rushed home to nurse her daughter back to health.

3) VERB If you nurse an illness or injury, you allow it to get better by resting as much as possible.

[V n] We're going to go home and nurse our colds.

4) VERB If you nurse an emotion or desire, you feel it strongly for a long time.

[V n] Jane still nurses the pain of rejection...

[V n] He had nursed an ambition to lead his own big orchestra.

Syn:

harbour

5) N-COUNT A nurse is a person who is trained to look after young children. [OLD-FASHIONED]

Every morning she got up early with the children and the nurse.

Syn:

nanny

6) V-ERG When a baby nurses or when its mother nurses it, it feeds by sucking milk from its mother's breast. [OLD-FASHIONED]

Most authorities recommend letting the baby nurse whenever it wants.

[V n] ...young women nursing babies...

[V-ing] Young people and nursing mothers are exempted from charges.

Syn:

suckle

7) → See also , nursing, wet nurse