to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage.
to foster new ideas.
to care for a foster child or a pet as a temporary guardian.
The couple fostered two boys until they could be reunited with their birth parents.
Have you ever fostered a kitten that you just couldn’t part from afterwards?
to care for or cherish.
British. to place (a child) in a foster home.
Obsolete. to feed or nourish.
Stephen (Collins), 1826–64, U.S. songwriter.
William Z(ebulon) 1881–1961, U.S. labor organizer: leader in the Communist Party.
a male given name.
to promote the growth or development of
to bring up (a child, etc); rear
to cherish (a plan, hope, etc) in one's mind
to place (a child) in the care of foster parents
to bring up under fosterage
(in combination) indicating relationship through fostering and not through birth
foster mother
foster child
(in combination) of or involved in the rearing of a child by persons other than his natural or adopted parents
foster home
Jodie . born 1962, US film actress and director: her films include Taxi Driver (1976), The Accused (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1990), Little Man Tate (1991; also directed), Nell (1995), and Panic Room (2002)
Norman , Baron. born 1935, British architect. His works include the Willis Faber building (1978) in Ipswich, Stansted Airport, Essex (1991), Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong (1998), the renovation of the Reichstag, Berlin (1999), and City Hall, London (2002)
Stephen Collins . 1826–64, US composer of songs such as The Old Folks at Home and Oh Susanna
See cherish.
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English fōstor “nourishment,” fōstrian “to nourish”; cognate with Old Norse fōstr; akin to food
To foster is to nurture something. A teacher could foster creativity by providing crayons to every student. You can also foster a child, which means the child lives in your home for a time. You may have seen photos of a cat taking care of a baby rabbit, or a pig nursing a litter of puppies: those are little foster families. Foster can be a verb (to foster someone or something) or an adjective used to describe a foster family, child, or parent. The word is from the Old English fostrian meaning "to supply with food, nourish, support," which sounds like what those mama hogs were doing. Unlike adopt, foster has a time limit.
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The majority cites to Supreme Court opinion Foster v.
From Slate • May 8, 2026
South African health ministry spokesperson Foster Mohale said the husband was 70 and the wife was 69.
From Barron's • May 5, 2026
You can read more about the team's grants in the FQxI article: "Can We Feel What It's Like to Be Quantum?" by Brendan Foster.
From Science Daily • May 3, 2026
We heard from a mother, Opal Foster, whose 18-year-old son has Down syndrome and lives at home as he strives to become a chef.
From Salon • Apr. 29, 2026
Little Willy saw Miss Williams, his teacher, and Mr. Foster from the bank, and Hank from the post office.
From "Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
