nursery

American  

[nur-suh-ree] / ˈnɜr sə ri /

noun

• nurseries
  plural

1. a room or place set apart for young children.

2. a nursery school or day nursery.

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

4. any place in which something is bred, nourished, or fostered.

   The art institute has been the nursery of much great painting.

5. any situation, condition, circumstance, practice, etc., serving to breed or foster something.

   Slums are nurseries for young criminals.

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nursery British  

/ ˈnɜːsrɪ /

noun

1. 1. a room in a house set apart for use by children

   2. ( as modifier )

      nursery wallpaper

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

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

4. short for nursery school

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

6. Also called: nursery cannon.  billiards

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

   2. a cannon in such a series

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prenursery
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nurseries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nursery

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

Explanation

In a nursery, you're going to find a lot of growth — and either babies or plants. The word nurse is a clue to the meaning of nursery: nurses take care of people, and a nursery is a place of caretaking. One kind of nursery is for babies: it's a child's room with a crib and lots of baby toys. The other kind of nursery is for plants: this type of nursery usually has glass walls and a roof, plus everything plants need to be healthy. Nurseries keep plants or babies safe so they can grow.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nursery nurseries

"I can't get him vaccinated, or enrol him in nursery or school," she says.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

In the open ocean, floating algae can form important habitats and nursery grounds for marine species, potentially supporting fisheries.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

For many working parents, she said, this was made worse by expensive nursery fees and the cost of covering children's hot lunches and after school clubs.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

She worried about other potential costs, too: the hospital bill, daycare, nursery school.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

The sails had gone slack, and the disappointed girl slumped in one of the cozy nursery chairs and clicked idly at the beads of her abacus: back and forth, back and forth.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

A spectacular new image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope offers a front row view of one of the universe's busiest stellar nurseries.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026

French state-owned utility EDF said on Friday it would allocate 80 million euros to equip schools, nurseries and daycare centres with cooling systems to help them cope with future heatwaves.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

The study also uncovered the worker bees responsible for creating and maintaining these royal nurseries.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026

Safe-sleep checks for nurseries as mum says son who died 'not treated as human'

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

Overstuffed pillows, fluffy bath mats, floral-print shower curtains, pastel comforter sets, four-hundred-thread-count cotton sheets, and dishes, all in the calm shades of baby nurseries.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

Related Words

• playroom
• preschool