nursery

[ nur-suh-ree ]
See synonyms for nursery on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural nurs·er·ies.
  1. a room or place set apart for young children.

  1. a place where young trees or other plants are raised for transplanting, for sale, or for experimental study.

  2. any place in which something is bred, nourished, or fostered: The art institute has been the nursery of much great painting.

  3. any situation, condition, circumstance, practice, etc., serving to breed or foster something: Slums are nurseries for young criminals.

Origin of nursery

1
First recorded in 1350–1400, nursery is from the Middle English word norcery.See nurse, -ery

Other words from nursery

  • pre·nurs·er·y, adjective, noun, plural pre·nurs·er·ies.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use nursery in a sentence

  • The sheep would come running into the seal nurseries looking for their lambs when they heard a pup seal crying.

    The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries | Francis Rolt-Wheeler
  • In European nurseries the list of pears propagated on quince roots is much larger.

    Dwarf Fruit Trees | F. A. Waugh
  • The coffee plants are raised in nurseries and afterwards transplanted to the cafetales or coffee plantations.

British Dictionary definitions for nursery

nursery

/ (ˈnɜːsrɪ) /


nounplural -ries
    • a room in a house set apart for use by children

    • (as modifier): nursery wallpaper

  1. a place where plants, young trees, etc, are grown commercially

  1. an establishment providing residential or day care for babies and very young children; crèche

  2. short for nursery school

  3. anywhere serving to foster or nourish new ideas, etc

  4. Also called: nursery cannon billiards

    • a series of cannons with the three balls adjacent to a cushion, esp near a corner pocket

    • a cannon in such a series

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012