a nurse who takes care of but does not breast-feed another's infant.
Informal. a person who tutors and guides an inexperienced person at work.
First recorded in 1590–1600
First recorded in 1575–85
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Since when have you come to the conclusion that I need a dry nurse?"
From Red Money by Hume, Fergus
The regiment, of course, is distributed among the ships, and the Fleet dry nurse 'em.
From Traffics and Discoveries by Kipling, Rudyard
You set back there if you want to, and play dry nurse to your twins—your family scandal on one arm and your governor’s boom on the other.
From King Spruce, A Novel by Day, Holman
"Where's yore dry nurse Dingwell?" broke in the ex-convict bitterly.
From The Sheriff's Son by Raine, William MacLeod
I’m no dry nurse to fellows shy of sand.
From The Fighting Edge by Raine, William MacLeod
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.
