nourishment
(ˈnʌrɪʃmənt)
Forms: 5 norysshe-, norysch-, 6 norish(e-; 6 nuryshe-, nurrish-, 6 Sc. nurish-; 6 nouryssh-, 6– nourish-.
[ad. OF. nor-, nur-, nour(r)issement; see nourish v. and -ment.]
1. That which nourishes or sustains; aliment, sustenance, food. Also fig. or transf.
| 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iv. xxxiv. 82 The wombe oweth to dispense to all the membres norysshement. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 202 Takynge refeccyon & nourysshment of her blessed body. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 228 It is verie likely, that the Towne of Feversham received the chiefe nourishment of hir increase from the Religious house. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxiv. 130 Distribution of the Nourishment, to the severall Members of the Common-wealth. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 590 No Dressing they require..; The Soil it self due Nourishment supplies. 1728 Young Odes to King xxx, At his proud foot The sea..Immortal nourishment supplies. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 672 'Tis narrow, selfish, arrogant, and draws Its sordid nourishment from man's applause. 1850 Lynch Theoph. Trinal ii. 29 He may see..the bird visiting her young with nourishment. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. 415 The Idler and Rambler did..contain more substantial literary nourishment than could be..packed into so portable compass. |
2. The action, process, or fact of nourishing.
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 335 Take yow sum coumforth for your bodyes noryschment. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ix. 20 Nature, which doth litle need Of forreine helpes to lifes due nourishment. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §1 No dead thing is capable of nourishment. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 431 The Paris, upon whose nourishment..such immense sums..have been expended. 1819 Shelley Mask Anarchy 167 So that ye for them are made Loom, and plough, and sword,..bent To their defence and nourishment. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 293 Internal conditions necessary for the nourishment of shipping and trade. |
† 3. Nutritive quality or property. Obs. rare—1.
| 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 104 Wylde frutes whiche they eate, beinge of muche better nooryshement then maste. 1620 Venner Via Recta iii. 52 The faculties of nourishments attributed vnto Beefe. |
4. spec. The treatment of leather with some substance to keep it soft or pliant.
| 1897 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) xlii. 596 For the nourishment of fine glacé leather, yolk of eggs is..used. |