Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NURSE, v.t. [nurs.]

1. To tend, as infants; as, to nurse a child.
2. To suckle; to nourish at the breast.
3. To attend and take care of in child-bed; as, to nurse a woman in her illness.
4. To tend the sick; applied to males and females.
5. To feed; to maintain; to bring up. Is. lx.
6. To cherish; to foster; to encourage; to promote growth in. We say, to nurse a feeble animal or plant. By what hands has vice been nursed into so uncontrolled a dominion? Locke.
7. To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase; as, to nurse our national resources.