1460–80 Stans Puer (Pepys) in Notes & Queries (1982) Feb. 6 Holde up your hedde, not dull but coragious; To entende that may be manerly northyng [read nort'ryng].

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job xxxvi. 10 He with punyshinge and nurturinge off them.., warneth them to leaue of from their wickednesse.

1578 in Private Prayers Reign Queen Elizabeth (1851) (modernized text) 534 We acknowledge thy fatherly nurturing of us.

1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime vii. 74 The Iesuites haue a Colledge..for the nurturing of their young Iesuites.

1684 J. Harrington tr. Horace Odes iv. 85 Fit Counsel though does inbred Force advance; Brests stronger prove Wise nurturing when imbrace.

1785 W. Paley Princ. Moral & Polit. Philos. iii. iii. iii. 253 The loss of his daughter's service, during her pregnancy and nurturing.

1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons II. iv. v. 66 Well-a-day, my lord, my nurturing was somewhat neglected in the province.

1899 S. Grundy Silver Shield i. 15 Even the rose needs careful nurturing, ere it will bloom like—like—what shall I say?

1967 Jrnl. Pediatrics 70 643/1 Some infants [with the disease] can show good growth from proper nurturing.

1988 Sci. Amer. May 21/3 Its hatchlings were undeveloped and required substantial nurturing after birth.

?a1659 T. Pestell Poems (1940) 79 So early ripe, so richly matcht in Minde; Choice Gem of Nature, set in Nurturing Gold.

1751 G. West Education 20 Close behind, assuming the Disguise Of nurturing Care, and smiling Tenderness, With secret Scourges arm'd those griefly Faitours press.

1792 J. Belknap Foresters v. 58 The wild animals..would be rendered tame and serviceable, by receiving instruction and education from the nurturing hand of humanity.

1807 J. Barlow Columbiad ix. 348 [To] Improve and utilise each opening birth, And aid the labors of this nurturing earth.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 664 Blood, being the nurturing principle of the flesh.

1883 A. C. Swinburne Cent. Roundels 47 Each mother's nurturing breast Feeds a flower of bliss.

a1935 W. Watson To one espousing Unpopular Truth in Poems (1936) 25 The winds are of its secret council sworn; And Time and nurturing Silence work its will.

1977 Time 19 Dec. 44/2 I find cooking a very gracious, warm and nurturing kind of thing to offer people.