dry nurse
noun
a nurse who takes care of but does not breast-feed another's infant.
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ward nurse.
dry nurse
1 Americannoun
-
a nurse who takes care of but does not breast-feed another's infant.
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Informal. a person who tutors and guides an inexperienced person at work.
dry-nurse
2
American
[drahy-nurs]
/ ˈdraɪˌnɜrs /
verb (used with object)
dry-nursed,
dry-nursing
dry nurse
British
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of dry nurse1
First recorded in 1590–1600
Origin of dry-nurse2
First recorded in 1575–85
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:
"Am I fated always to be the dry nurse of an embryo faction!" thought Vivian; and he watched earnestly the countenance of the Prince.
From Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
“A nice dry nurse you be!” said Jack Gedge.
From Sir Ludar A Story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess by Talbot Baines Reed
The regiment, of course, is distributed among the ships, and the Fleet dry nurse 'em.
From Traffics and Discoveries by Rudyard Kipling
She acted, I believe, as dry nurse to the distinguished Colonel of sepoys, my uncle.
From The Newcomes Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family by William Makepeace Thackeray
A dry nurse must be found at once, a nurse competent to take every precaution and give the child every chance.
From Damaged Goods; the great play "Les avaries" by Brieux, novelized with the approval of the author by Eugène Brieux
With a Konigseck to dry-nurse him, may not Royal Highness, luck favoring, do very well?
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 15 by Thomas Carlyle
Pitt had compared Robinson to a jack-boot; but personal opinions vary according to points of view; Sir Thomas might be contemptible as a leader, but useful as a dry-nurse.
From Lord Chatham His Early Life and Connections by Archibald Phillip Primrose Rosebery
I don't envy Hignett if he has to dry-nurse the Gnome's commander.
From Traffics and Discoveries by Rudyard Kipling
Then Tasso, with his enchanted forests and his other improbabilities; are they more than childish tales? tales, too, not in fancy to be compared with those of that venerable dry-nurse, Mother Bunch.
From The Life of Lord Byron by John Galt
You are doomed to dry-nurse Martin for life, whether he wants you or no.
From An Unknown Lover by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
In Paris, Rheims, and Aix, where they are wholly dry-nursed, their deaths are 50.3, 63.9, and 80 per cent.
From The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother by George H. (George Henry) Napheys
"I mean, didn't she try to get them dry-nursed by the sirkar in some way?"
From King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy
Mr. Houghton has dry-nursed what father left me, and he has done mighty well with it; but I can't touch it till I'm twenty-five—worse luck!
From The Vehement Flame by Margaret Wade Campbell Deland
One can't afford to cuddle an old vendetta, as Abishag dry-nursed old King David.
From A Woman Named Smith by Marie Conway Oemler
Was't some sullen bear dry-nursed thee, Or she-dragon gave thee suck?
From Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
"Since when have you been dry-nursing rustlers?" snarled Rafe.
From The Rider of Golden Bar by William Patterson White
"I'm not specially keen on dry-nursing Dan McGrew," Jim remarked plaintively.
From The Shooting of Dan McGrew, A Novel Based on the Famous Poem of Robert Service by Marvin Hill Dana
This was careful dry-nursing for the bantling which had been provided with so comfortable a cradle in the State Department.
From James Madison by Sydney Howard Gay
Ned said that the Company was able to walk by itself at last, and that he was going to have a long holiday after his dry-nursing of it.
From The Irrational Knot Being the Second Novel of His Nonage by Bernard Shaw
But, if he nursed his passion, it was a dry-nursing; for he led a lonely, ascetic, and, if it were not for his studies, we might say a savage life.
From The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch by Thomas Campbell
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