▪ I. ˈnursing, vbl. n.
[f. nurse v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of the verb, in various senses.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1061 Nother more nor lesse may nat the soule..contynewe without her propre norsinge. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 128 Neither can [she] conceive the like pleasure in noursing as the mother doth. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 322 First pay me for the Nursing of thy Sonnes. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. i. 7 Moses after his nursing was brought to Pharaoh's daughter. 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 27 With careful nursing, I quite recovered him. 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) I. 510 Nursing causes a luxuriant growth in this hardy mountainous tree. 1867 Baker Nile Trib. iii. 64 This most necessary ammunition required much nursing during a long exploration. 1883 Athenæum 27 Jan. 119/1 A money-lender's ‘nursing’ of a small seaside constituency. |
b. The profession of a nurse (nurse n.1 3); the duties of a nurse.
| 1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing 6, I use the word nursing for want of a better. Ibid. 72 She [sc. the writer]..honestly believes that the perfection of surgical nursing may be seen practised by the old-fashioned ‘sister’ of a London hospital. 1889 O'Neill & Barnett Our Nurses i. 2 It is commonly and justly coming to be held that nursing in all its branches is a career for educated women. 1937 E. C. Pearce (title) A general textbook of nursing. 1955 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. XI. 333/2 Florence Nightingale was the real founder of the modern profession of nursing. 1970 K. K. Guinée Professional Nurse i. 6 The teacher of nursing carefully selects learning experiences in the clinical area. |
2. attrib., as nursing-bottle, nursing-chair, etc.; (sense 1 b) nursing-training.
| 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. 16 Nov. II. 1546 ‘Aunt Shakerly’..placed Mr. Hood's baby cousin in the nursing-chair. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 26/2 Females for the most part with nursing pouches. 1839 Saturday Mag. Feb. 70, 3000 bees..will be enough to do the nursing-work of the hive. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 1041 Many kinds of nursing-bottles have been lately invented, and some mounted with India-rubber nipples. 1897 P. Warung Tales Old Regime 148 Appointment to a nursing post would be an indulgence the woman does not merit. 1914 W. Owen Let. 29 Oct. (1967) 291 The Nursing Training is capital for you. 1944 A. Seton Dragonwyck i. 4 She unbuttoned her bodice, snatched up the hungry baby, and settled on the low nursing chair. 1971 Country Life 22 July (Suppl.) 32b/2 (Advt.), A Wm. IV nursing chair of hammock shape upholstered in deeply buttoned Havana brown leather. |
b. Designating garments designed to facilitate the breast-feeding of a baby, as nursing basque, nursing bra, nursing brassière, nursing corset.
| 1939 M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 104/3 Nursing basque, basque with buttoned closings, one on each side of the front. 1969 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring/Summer 362/2 Finest nylon lace nursing bra... Easy-open clasp lets you hold baby as you open cups. |
| 1950 Heaton & Daynes Feeding Mothers & Babies ii. 55 A nursing brassière..should have a waterproof lining. |
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 309/2 Dr. Strong's Tricora Nursing Corset has proved a great comfort to mothers. |
c. Special Combs., as nursing home, (a) a small, private institution where the sick are cared for; also attrib.; (b) a place where certain qualities are nurtured.
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 681 He was removed to a nursing-home. 1938 L. P. Smith Unforgotten Years vi. 149 Her barrister husband insisted..that I should be transferred without delay to what was, in his opinion, the only nursing home of reasonable thought and noble ambition—in fact, to Balliol College. 1951 [see clinic n.2 2]. 1959 T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman ii. 45 We've studied to avoid Anything like a nursing-home atmosphere. |
▪ II. ˈnursing, ppl. a.
[f. nurse v. + -ing2.]
1. That nurses, or tends like a nurse. a. nursing-father, a foster-father.
| 1535 Coverdale Isa. xlix. 23 For kinges shalbe thy noursinge fathers, and Quenes shalbe thy noursinge mothers. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶1 Those noursing fathers and mothers that withdraw..liuelyhood and support. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen xxviii. 89 So that this Parish hath cause for ever, to acknowledge him a nursing father of Religion amongst them. 1703 Kelsey Serm. 246 The Empire turned Christian, and became a Nursing-Father to the Infancy of the Church. 1827 Keble Chr. Y., St. Barnabas, 'Twixt Prayer and watchful Love his heart dividing; A nursing-father day and night. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars vi. 274 The friars were to some extent nursing fathers of the University. |
b. nursing-mother, (a) a foster-mother; (b) a woman who is breast-feeding her own baby.
| 1535, 1611 [see above]. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 256 A Nursing-mother born to rock the throne! 1731 Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 230 Of Arian and of Orthodox Alike the nursing-mother. 1806 D. Wordsworth Let. 23 July in Lett. William & Dorothy Wordsworth (1969) II. 60 She thinks herself quite well, but I do not think she is as yet as strong as she ought to be for a nursing mother. 1855 Winthrop Sargent Braddock's Exped. 19 Under its ancient lords, this nursing-mother of privateers would be powerful..in that part of the world. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life i. iii. 16 In the lands of the vine—the plant is looked upon as a nursing-mother. 1897 G. Tucker Mother, Baby & Nursery 96 It becomes the first duty of the nursing mother to take care of herself. 1926 M. A. von Arnim Introd. to Sally ix. 154 Good job I ain't a nursin' mother..or the lady'd turn my milk sour. 1950 E. Pantin Mod. Mothercraft i. 19 The health of a nursing mother affects the quality of her milk. 1970 J. de Bairacli-Levy Natural Rearing of Children iii. 28 It is an error to say that a nursing mother must take milk from animals to increase her own milk. 1974 A. Huxley Plant & Planet xxviii. 328 Nursing mothers in the United States have so much DDT in their milk that, to quote a scientific humorist, ‘in strict terms of federal law, it is illegal for them to carry their busts..across one state line to another’. |
c. In general use.
| 1671 Milton Samson 924 My redoubl'd love and care With nursing diligence..May ever tend about thee to old age. 1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 62 Ev'n afflictive Birch..distills A limpid Current from her wounded Bark, Profuse of nursing Sap. 1785 Burke Nabob of Arcot's Debts Wks. IV. 264 Does any one of you think that England..would, under such a nursing attendance, so rapidly..recover? 1812 Examiner 4 May 282/2 The figures of a nursing and a waiting girl. 1840 Marryat Olla Podr. III. 4 He would soon have him in command of a fine frigate, with a good nursing first lieutenant. 1866 Shuckard Brit. Bees 356 They are nurtured by nursing-workers just like them. 1887 Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 5) 146 The first leaves which are developed are called cotyledons..or nursing leaves. |
2. That is being nursed. rare—1.
| 1860 J. Brown Rab & F., Let. to J. Cairns (1906) 246 One woman..had a nursing baby in her arms. |
Hence ˈnursingly adv.
| 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. 69 Whether it ought not piously to save, and nursingly cherish, the lives of its murderers. |