nurse
nurse Lexical Profile
nurse Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A licensed healthcare professional trained to care for sick, injured, or infirm patients, typically working in a hospital, clinic, or residential setting alongside physicians.
"The night nurse checked the patient's vital signs and administered the prescribed medication."
A woman employed to look after and care for a young child or infant in a private household; historically, a woman hired to breastfeed another woman's infant.
"In the nineteenth century, wealthy families routinely hired a nurse to tend to their newborn children."
• verb
To give medical and physical care to a sick or injured person or animal until they recover.
"She stayed home for a week to nurse her husband through a severe bout of pneumonia."
To feed a baby or young mammal at the breast or teat, or to take milk from the breast or teat.
"The mother found a quiet room where she could nurse her infant undisturbed."
To treat an injured or painful part of the body with special care and caution in order to help it heal.
"The striker spent the remainder of the season on the bench to nurse a torn hamstring."
To harbor, cherish, or dwell on a feeling, grievance, or hope over a long period of time.
"He continued to nurse a bitter grudge against his former business partner for decades."
To hold a drink and sip it very slowly over an extended period.
"Uninterested in the loud party, she sat in the corner and nursed a single glass of lemonade all evening."
• Rhymes for nurse
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'norrice' (meaning wet nurse or foster mother), which derives from Late Latin 'nutricia', from Latin 'nutrix' ('one who nourishes'), related to the verb 'nutrire' ('to suckle or nourish').