Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NURS'ING, ppr.

Tending; nourishing at the breast; educating; maintaining.

NURS'LING, n.

1. An infant; a child. Dryden.
2. One that is nursed. Spenser.

NUR'TURE, n. [Fr. nourriture, from nourrir, to nourish.]

1. That which nourishes; food; diet. Milton.
2. That which promotes growth; education; instruction. Eph. vi.

NUR'TURE, v.t.

1. To feed; to nourish.
2. To educate; to bring or train up. He was nurtured where he was born. Walton.

NUR'TUR-ED, pp.

Nourished; educated; trained up.

NU'SANCE, n. [See NUISANCE.]

NUT, n. [Sax. hnut; D. noot; G. nuss; Sw. nöt; Dan. nödd; Ir. cnudh; W. cna, cnau. It seems to be allied to knot, a bunch or hard lump.]

1. The fruit of certain trees and shrubs, consisting of a hard shell inclosing a kernel. Various kinds of nuts are distinguished; as, walnut, chestnut, hazelnut, butternut.
2. In mechanics, a small cylinder or other body, with teeth or projections corresponding with the teeth or grooves of a wheel. Wilkins. Ray.
3. The projection near the eye of an anchor. Mar. Dict.
4. A small block of metal containing a concave screw, called also a burr.

NUT, v.t.

To gather nuts. Wood.

NU-TA'TION, n. [L. nutatio, a nodding, from nuto, to nod.]

In astronomy, a kind of tremulous motion of the axis of the earth, by which in its annual revolution it is twice inclined to the ecliptic, and as often returns to its former position. Encyc.

NUT-BREAK-ER, n. [See NUT-CRACKER.]

NUT'-BROWN, a.

Brown as a nut long kept and dried. Milton.

NUT'-CRACK-ER, n.

1. An instrument for cracking nuts. Addison.
2. A bird of the genus Corvus; the nut-breaker. Pennant.

NUT'GALL, n.

An excrescence of the oak. Brown.

NUT'-HATCH, n.

The common name of birds of the genus Sitta. The common European nut-hatch is called also nut jobber and nut pecker. Encyc. Johnson.

NUT'-HOOK, n.

A pole with a hook at the end to pull down boughs for gathering the nuts also, the name given to a thief that stole goods from a window by means of a hook. Shak.

NUT'MEG, n. [L. nux moschata; It. noce moscada; Port. noz moscada; Fr. muscade or noix muscade. But it may be questioned whether the last syllable in English meg, is not from L. macis, mace, the bark that envelops the nut.]

The kernel of the fruit of the Myristica moschata. This fruit is nearly a spherical drupe of the size, and somewhat of the shape of a pear. The fleshy part is of a yellowish color without, almost white within, and four or five lines in thickness, and opens into two nearly equal longitudinal valves, presenting to view the nut surrounded by its arillus, which is mace. The nut drops out and the arillus withers. The nut is oval, the shell very hard and dark-brown. This immediately envelops the kernel, which is the nutmeg as commonly sold in the shops. The tree producing this fruit grows principally in the islands of Banda, in the East Indies. It reaches the highth of twenty or thirty feet, producing numerous branches. The color of the bark of the trunk is a reddish brown; that of the young blanches a bright green. The nutmeg is an aromatic, very grateful to the taste and smell, and much used in cookery.

NU-TRI-CA'TION, n.

Manner of feeding or being fed. [Not in use.]

NU'TRI-ENT, a. [L. nutrio.]

Nourishing; promoting growth.

NU'TRI-ENT, n.

Any substance which nourishes by promoting the growth or repairing the waste of animal bodies. Darwin.

NU'TRI-MENT, n. [L. nutrimentum, from nutrio, to nourish.]

1. That which nourishes; that which promotes the growth or repairs the natural waste of animal bodies, or that which promotes the growth of vegetables; food; aliment. South.
2. That which promotes enlargement or improvement; as, the nutriment of the mind.

NU-TRI-MENT'AL, a.

Having the qualities of food; alimental. Arbuthnot.

NU-TRI'TION, n. [L. nutritio, from nutrio, to nourish.]

1. The net or process of promoting the growth or repairing the waste of animal bodies; the act or process of promoting growth in vegetables. Darwin.
2. That which nourishes; nutriment. Fixed like a plant on his peculiar spot, / To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot. Pope. There is no nutrition in ardent spirits. L. Beecher.

NU-TRI'TIOUS, a.

Nourishing: promoting the growth or repairing the waste of animal bodies. Milk is very nutritious.

NU-TRI'TIOUS-LY, or NU'TRI-TIVE-LY, adv.

Nourishingly.

NU'TRI-TIVE, a.

Having the quality of nourishing; nutrimental; alimental; as, a nutritive food.