nursling

American  

[nurs-ling] / ˈnɜrs lɪŋ /

Or nurseling

noun

1. an infant, child, or young animal being nursed or being cared for by a nurse.

2. any person or thing under fostering care, influences, or conditions.

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nursling British  

/ ˈnɜːslɪŋ /

noun

1. a child or young animal that is being suckled, nursed, or fostered

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Etymology

Origin of nursling

First recorded in 1550–60; nurse + -ling ¹

Example Sentences

Other times, the older nursling will naturally decide to stop.

From Washington Post • Dec. 12, 2022

Being “a native and nursling of the moors”, Emily had made a book that was “hewn in a wild workshop, with simple tools, out of homely materials”.

From The Guardian • Jul. 21, 2018

In Phoenix, the nursling Journal faces tough competition from Eugene C. Pulliam's aggressive Republic, with its competent, extensive news coverage and its sustained interest in Phoenix' phenomenal growth.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hence Charm is not the nursling of our hours of work, but the delicate and capricious foster-child of Leisure.

From Limbo and Other Essays To which is now added Ariadne in Mantua by Lee, Vernon

The cloistered nurse was sitting with her nursling at the dim little window in the east turret-room.

From The Hour Will Come: Volumes I and II A Tale of an Alpine Cloister by Hillern, Wilhelmine von