nurse
Americannoun
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nurses
plural
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a person formally educated and trained in the care of the sick or infirm.
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a woman who has the general care of a child or children; dry nurse.
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a woman employed to suckle an infant; wet nurse.
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any fostering agency or influence.
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Entomology. a worker that attends the young in a colony of social insects.
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Billiards. the act of maintaining the position of billiard balls in preparation for a carom.
verb (used with object)
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nurses,
present (3rd person singular)
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nursed,
past participle, past
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nursing
present participle
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to tend or minister to in sickness, infirmity, etc.
- Antonyms:
- neglect
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to try to cure (an ailment) by taking care of oneself.
to nurse a cold.
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to look after carefully so as to promote growth, development, etc.; foster; cherish.
to nurse one's meager talents.
- Antonyms:
- neglect
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to treat or handle with adroit care in order to further one's own interests.
to nurse one's nest egg.
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to use, consume, or dispense very slowly or carefully.
He nursed the one drink all evening.
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to keep steadily in mind or memory.
He nursed a grudge against me all the rest of his life.
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to suckle (an infant).
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to feed and tend in infancy.
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to bring up, train, or nurture.
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to clasp or handle carefully or fondly.
to nurse a plate of food on one's lap.
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Billiards. to maintain the position of (billiard balls) for a series of caroms.
verb (used without object)
-
nurses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
nursed,
past participle, past
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nursing
present participle
-
to suckle a child, especially one's own.
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(of a child) to suckle.
The child did not nurse after he was three months old.
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to act as nurse; tend the sick or infirm.
noun
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a person who tends the sick, injured, or infirm
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short for nursemaid
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a woman employed to breast-feed another woman's child; wet nurse
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a worker in a colony of social insects that takes care of the larvae
verb
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(also intr) to tend (the sick)
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(also intr) to feed (a baby) at the breast; suckle
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to try to cure (an ailment)
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to clasp carefully or fondly
she nursed the crying child in her arms
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(also intr) (of a baby) to suckle at the breast (of)
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to look after (a child) as one's employment
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to attend to carefully; foster, cherish
he nursed the magazine through its first year
having a very small majority he nursed the constituency diligently
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to harbour; preserve
to nurse a grudge
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billiards to keep (the balls) together for a series of cannons
Usage
What does nurse mean? A nurse is someone who has been formally trained and educated to tend to the sick and infirm, as in The nurse double-checked the dosage of drugs the cancer patient was receiving. Related to this sense, nurse can be used to mean to tend to a person who is sick, infirm, or injured, as in The father nursed his daughter while she was sick with chickenpox. Nurse can also mean to take care of oneself to try to cure something, as in Jonah was nursing a cold last week. Nurse is also used to mean to breast-feed a baby, as in The mother cat nursed her litter of kittens. And nurse can mean to look after something carefully or to cherish something, as in Pat nursed her new company through the recession. Example: My brother went to school to be a nurse and is now working at the local hospital.
Synonym Usage
Nurse, nourish, nurture may be used almost interchangeably to refer to bringing up the young. Nurse, however, suggests attendance and service; nourish emphasizes providing whatever is needful for development; and nurture suggests tenderness and solicitude in training mind and manners.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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nursesimple
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nursessimple
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have nursedperfect
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has nursedperfect
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am nursingprogressive
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are nursingprogressive
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is nursingprogressive
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have been nursingperfect progressive
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has been nursingperfect progressive
Past
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nursedsimple
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had nursedperfect
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was nursingprogressive
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were nursingprogressive
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had been nursingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nurse
First recorded before 1350–1400; (noun) Middle English, variant of n(o)urice, norice, from Old French, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun use of feminine of Latin nūtrīcius nutritious; (verb) earlier nursh (reduced form of nourish ), assimilated to the noun
Explanation
A nurse is a trained healthcare worker who takes care of sick people. To nurse is to take care of, like if you nurse a baby bird back to health. To become a nurse, you have to go to college and study subjects like anatomy and nutrition. Some nurses assist doctors and perform tasks like bathing patients, taking blood samples, or giving medication. When you use the word nurse as a verb, it means "care for," and also "breastfeed a baby." The Latin root, nutrire, means "to nourish." To nurse a drink is to drink it slowly, and to nurse an idea is to mull it over.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Clancy, who gave birth to her youngest child in May 2022, began experiencing anxiety about returning to work as a labor and delivery nurse after maternity leave, according to trial testimonies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
A blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance from a substitute who was supposed to be a leader, a senior man, a guy to nurse Rangers to the endgame with their flimsy 1-0 lead intact.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
The results suggest that combining pollen from different plants and then processing it through nurse bees may allow honeybee colonies to compensate for the nutritional shortcomings of individual pollen sources.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
Brophy, a mother of two and an Oceanside emergency room nurse, has been missing since July 6, and her vehicle was discovered in a parking lot within the recreation area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Let me introduce you to Etta. She’s a longtime nurse and was recently promoted to director of Shady Glen. She’s a good friend of mine,” the social worker said, and led him to a door.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
The 27-page suit names the UC regents as defendants, along with physicians, nurses, clinical care partners and other officials who are identified as “Does 1-100.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
The broader problem with AI in rare-disease diagnosis is that existing tools are only as good as the data they are trained on, researchers, doctors and nurses said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
In testimonies from members, nurses reported how they had been left dripping in sweat from "head to toe" while seeing patients.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
A child lay beneath a blue sheet, hooked to a respirator, with a team of doctors and nurses clustered around the bed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Soldiers, sailors, pilots, and nurses were on their way to war in the Pacific.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
She nursed a swollen ankle after falling in the evacuation centre.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Eleanor Nash, community ranger at Forestry England, said beaver kits were nursed for about two to three months.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Most of them have nursed injuries over the past couple of seasons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2025
They don't need to: the pups will happily take turns being nursed from the same mammary gland, and this devoted and well-cared-for mother spends plenty of time with each of her many, many beloved children.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
Around the clock she nursed her older sister, many nights getting no sleep at all, and so the cooking and washing and cleaning for the family fell to me.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Skoczulek said that the facility's role was to provide Smith with the skilled nursing and long-term care services he required.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
In the hard-hit western city of Pereira, Andres Cano, a 30-year-old nursing student, acknowledged that the hope of locating survivors "is much lower now."
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
The first cub died at 2 weeks after it became lethargic, stopped nursing and was removed from Ruby’s care into a temperature-controlled incubator to receive intervention from veterinary teams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
After a brief spell in a Parisian convent school—and several months spent nursing her paternal grandmother—Aurore was wed, at age 18, to Casimir Dudevant, a family friend nine years her senior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Throughout Garfield's ordeal, at least one of the doctors or these nursing attendants stayed by his side.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
