NURSE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nurse mean? 

• NURSE (noun)
  The noun NURSE has 2 senses:

1. one skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician)

2. a woman who is the custodian of children

  Familiarity information: NURSE used as a noun is rare.

• NURSE (verb)
  The verb NURSE has 5 senses:

1. try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury

2. maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)

3. serve as a nurse; care for sick or handicapped people

4. treat carefully

5. give suck to

  Familiarity information: NURSE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NURSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("nurse" is a kind of...):

caregiver; health care provider; health professional; PCP; primary care provider (a person who helps in identifying or preventing or treating illness or disability)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nurse"):

accoucheuse; midwife (a woman skilled in aiding the delivery of babies)

visiting nurse (a nurse who is paid to visit the sick in their homes)

scrub nurse (a nurse who helps a surgeon prepare for surgery)

registered nurse; RN (a graduate nurse who has passed examinations for registration)

probationer; student nurse (a nurse in training who is undergoing a trial period)

matron (a woman in charge of nursing in a medical institution)

licensed practical nurse; LPN; practical nurse (a nurse who has enough training to be licensed by a state to provide routine care for the sick)

head nurse (the person in charge of nursing in a medical institution)

graduate nurse; trained nurse (someone who has completed the course of study (including hospital practice) at a nurses training school)

foster-nurse (a nurse who raises another woman's child as her own)

Instance hyponyms:

Cavell; Edith Cavell; Edith Louisa Cavell (English nurse who remained in Brussels after the German occupation in order to help Allied prisoners escape; was caught and executed by the Germans (1865-1915))

Florence Nightingale; Lady with the Lamp; Nightingale (English nurse remembered for her work during the Crimean War (1820-1910))

Margaret Higgins Sanger; Margaret Sanger; Sanger (United States nurse who campaigned for birth control and planned parenthood; she challenged Gregory Pincus to develop a birth control pill (1883-1966))

Holonyms ("nurse" is a member of...):

nurse-patient relation (the responsibility of a nurse to act in the best interests of the patient)

Derivation:

nurse (try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury)

nurse (serve as a nurse; care for sick or handicapped people)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A woman who is the custodian of children

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

nanny; nurse; nursemaid

Hypernyms ("nurse" is a kind of...):

keeper (someone in charge of other people)

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nurse"):

mammy (an offensive term for a Black nursemaid in the southern U.S.)

amah; wet-nurse; wet nurse; wetnurse (a woman hired to suckle a child of someone else)

dry nurse (a nurse who cares for but does not suckle an infant)

Derivation:

nurse (give suck to)

• NURSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they nurse    ... he / she / it nurses   
Past simple: nursed   
Past participle: nursed   
-ing form: nursing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

He nursed his cold with Chinese herbs

Hypernyms (to "nurse" is one way to...):

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

Domain category:

medicine; practice of medicine (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate training in a medical school and that is devoted to preventing or alleviating or curing diseases and injuries)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Did he nurse his foot?

Derivation:

nurse (one skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician))

nursing (the work of caring for the sick or injured or infirm)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

entertain; harbor; harbour; hold; nurse

Context example:

harbor a resentment

Hypernyms (to "nurse" is one way to...):

experience; feel (undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Serve as a nurse; care for sick or handicapped people

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "nurse" is one way to...):

care; give care (provide care for)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

nurse (one skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician))

nursing (the work of caring for the sick or injured or infirm)

nursing (the profession of a nurse)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Treat carefully

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

He nursed the flowers in his garden and fertilized them regularly

Hypernyms (to "nurse" is one way to...):

do by; handle; treat (interact in a certain way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

nurser (a person who treats something carefully)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Give suck to

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

breastfeed; give suck; lactate; nurse; suck; suckle; wet-nurse

Context example:

You cannot nurse your baby in public in some places

Hypernyms (to "nurse" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Verb group:

suck (draw into the mouth by creating a practical vacuum in the mouth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

nurse (a woman who is the custodian of children)

nursery (a child's room for a baby)

nursing (nourishing at the breast)

 Context examples 

In the afternoon of the next day, my old nurse and I went down to Gravesend.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There he lay for the remainder of the weary night, nursing his wrath and wounded pride.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Blows were struck, and there were always two or three men nursing injuries at the hands of the human beast who was their master.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“In nursing your sister I am sure you have pleasure,” said Bingley; “and I hope it will be soon increased by seeing her quite well.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I nursed my eye and was silent.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The nurse now entered, and Bessie followed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Girls are quiet and like to play nurse.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Nursed her as a baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia, eighteen months ago.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

During all that time Henry was my only nurse.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)