▪ I. nurture, n.
(ˈnɜːtjʊə(r))
Forms: 4–6 nortour(e, -tur(e, 5–6 norter; 5–7 nourtoure, 6–7 -ture; 4– nurture (5 Sc. nwr-), 5–6 -tur, -tour(e.
[a. OF. nourture, nurture, var. of noure-, nourriture: see nouriture.]
1. Breeding, upbringing, training, education (received or possessed by one). Now rare.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4295 Vs wondreþ at ȝowre nurture of pris. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 179 Ful foule and cherlysshe semed she,..And litel coude of norture. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 122 He was of hey nourtoure, wel prowed and I-lernyd of al Sciencis. 1470–85 Malory Arthur viii. iii. 276 He sente yonge Trystram.. in to Fraunce to lerne the langage and nurture and dedes of armes. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) C iij b, His father in his youthe had taught him good nurture. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 26 The greatest preferment that childe we can giue, is learning and nurture, to traine him to liue. 1607 Statute in Hist. Wakefield School (1892) 60 The general course of Religion and good nurture in the scollers of this schole. 1644 Milton Educ. 3 To drive our dullest and laziest youth..from the infinite desire of such a happy nurture. |
| 1813 Scott Rokeby vi. xv, He bred him in their nurture wild. 1867 Parkman Jesuits in N. Amer. ix. (1875) 99 Both were of noble birth and gentle nurture. |
† b. Moral training or discipline. Obs.
| 1526 Tindale Eph. vi. 4 Brynge them uppe with the norter and informacion off the Lorde. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xviii. Contents, God suffreth longe, rebuketh and teacheth all soch as wil receaue nurtoure. 1611 Bible Wisd. iii. 11 Who so despiseth wisedome, and nurture, he is miserable. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. xcviii. 251 Yet I get my meat from Christ with nurture. |
2. That which nourishes; nourishment, food.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. xxxii. (Bodl. MS.), Swetnes is þe propre sauour & norture ȝif it is stedefaste..in þe membres. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 1630 Iuno..bisyly dide hir cure To yive him mylke to hys norture. 1596 Spenser Hymn Hon. Love 39 Your lovers feeble eyes you feed, But sterve their harts that needeth nourture most. 1671 Milton Samson 362 For this did the Angel twice descend? for this Ordain'd thy nurture holy, as of a Plant? 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. cxlix, Where..from the heart we took Our first and sweetest nurture. 1880 Blackmore Mary Anerley xl, He fed him well, and nourished himself, and took nurture for the road. |
| Comb. 1777 Potter æschylus 319 These crisped locks, Once sacred to the nurture-giving stream Of Inachus. |
3. The bringing-up or rearing of some one; tutelage; fostering care.
| 1676 W. Allen Addr. Nonconf. 44 Whom God put under the nurture of believing Parents, or Tutors. 1727 Pope, etc. Art of Sinking xvi, That to prevent unmarried Actresses making away with their Infants, a competent Provision be allowed for the Nurture of them. c 1775 Burke Addr. Colonists N. Amer. Wks. IX. 213 Under the paternal care and nurture of a protecting Parliament. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 779 Things so sacred as a nation's trust, The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 372 If guardian by nurture make a lease by indenture to one, being under the title of the infant. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost ix. 230 Even in the lower animals there is a certain love, and care, a nurture in the parent towards its offspring. |
▪ II. nurture, v.
(ˈnɜːtjʊə(r))
Also 5, 7 norture, 5–6 nurtur (6 -ter, -tor, -tour), 6–7 nourture (6 -ter, -toure).
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To feed or nourish; to support and bring up to maturity; to rear. Also fig. (cf. 2).
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 41 But also pleyne was his bedde at the morwe, As at even so was he nortured wele. c 1440 Alph. Tales 437 He knew it & had compassion þeroff, & garte name it & nurtur it. c 1450 Lovelich Grail xxxv. 216 His Eldest sone..was put into thike partye For to Norture. 1575 Turberv. Trag. Tales (1837) 161 By his Grandsyre nourisht up And nurtred from a boye. 1715 Bentley Serm. (J.), They suppose mother earth to be a great animal, and to have nurtured up her young offspring with a conscious tenderness. 1815 Shelley Alastor 68 By solemn vision, and bright silver dream, His infancy was nurtured. 1828 Lytton Disowned iii, The woman who nurtured me as my mother was rather capricious than kind. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. viii, He was not nurtured by the best of mothers. |
| refl. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. Introd. (Arb.) 32/2 All the other byrdes..gyue them mete & drinke to the tyme that the[y] can flee & nurter them selfe. 1820 Shelley Œd. Tyr. i. 356 That very Rat, who, like the Pontic tyrant, Nurtures himself on poison. |
b. transf. To foster, cherish.
| 1828 Macaulay Ess., Hallam (1851) I. 57 Sprung from brutal passion, nurtured by selfish policy, the Reformation in England [etc.]. 1847 H. Miller Test. Rocks iii. (1857) 115 It has been said that they nurture infidel propensities. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxi. 298 The Lieutenant began to nurture a secret affection for Scotland. |
2. To bring up, train, educate.
| 1526 Tindale Titus ii. 4 That they nurter the yonge wemen for to love their husbandes. 1579 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 11 A child..In tender yeares brought vp In vertues schoole, and nurtred wel. 1639 Rouse Heav. Univ. viii. (1702) 106 He will delight to teach and nurture thee. 1652 Bp. Hall Eloquence p. xiv, We ought to nurture our souls to greatnesse. 1774 Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 164 Persons who are nurtured in office do admirably well as long as things go on in their common order. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 532 My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades Of Academus—is this false or true? 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. xxxvii, Before A woman's heart beat in my virgin breast, It had been nurtured in divinest lore. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. xi, He had been nurtured in contempt for the tales of priests. |
† b. To discipline, chasten. Obs.
| 1528 Tindale Doctr. Treat. (Parker Soc.) 136 God laid him where he could neither see sun nor moon.., to nurture him,..and to teach him God's ways. 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings xii. 11. a 1564 Becon Commpl. H. Script. Wks. II. iii. 93 They verely for a fewe daies nurtred vs after their own pleasure; But he nurtreth vs for our profit. 1609 Bible (Douay) Prov. xiii. 24 He that spareth the rod, hateth his childe; but he that loveth him doth instantly nurture him. 1636 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. lxx. 182 You have had your own large share of troubles..; but it saith your Father counteth you not a bastard; full-begotten bairns are nurtured. |
† c. To wean (one) from something. Obs. rare—1.
| 1621 Sanderson Serm. I. 172 As a fatherly correction and chastisement, to nurture us from some past sin. |