nurse1 nounnurse2 verb
nursenurse1 /nɜːs $ nɜːrs/ ●●● S2 W3 noun [countable] 
1someone whose job is to look after people who are ill or injured, usually in a hospital: 
The nurse is coming to give you an injection. The school nurse sent Sara home. a male nurse a senior nurse a student nurse (=someone who is learning to be a nurse) a psychiatric nurse (=a nurse for people who are mentally ill) a community nurse → district nurse, staff nurse2old-fashioned a woman employed to look after a young child SYN nanny → nursery nurse, wet nursenurse1 nounnurse2 verb
nursenurse2 ●○○ verb WORD ORIGINnurse2
Origin:
1500-1600 nursh ‘to nourish’ (14-16 centuries), from nourish; influenced by ➔ NURSE1VERB TABLE
nurse
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | nurse |
| he, she, it | nurses | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | nursed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have nursed |
| he, she, it | has nursed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had nursed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will nurse |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have nursed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am nursing |
| he, she, it | is nursing | |
| you, we, they | are nursing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was nursing |
| you, we, they | were nursing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been nursing |
| he, she, it | has been nursing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been nursing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be nursing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been nursing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Irina had wanted to nurse him, but the doctors had sent her away.
- Martha nursed Ted herself.
- Penelope sat on the couch nursing a scotch and soda.
- Police believe the suspect nursed a grudge against women.
- Shaw has been nursing a sore ankle.
- She never nurses a grievance or plans revenge.
- The monks tended his wounds and nursed him back to health.
- Tony nursed his wife through her long illness without ever complaining.
- Parents will become superfluous, the robots will nurse and play with children.
- So Demeter nursed Demophoon, the son that Metaneira had borne to wise Celeus.
- Somewhere the sturdy beggars nursed their wounds and cursed.
- The others need to nurse the insult.
- The youngest bees clean out the cells and nurse the brood.
THESAURUS
(also look after somebody especially British English) to make sure a child or an old or sick person is safe and has the things they need: · I have to look after my little brother.· Taking care of a baby is hard work.· She is taking care of her grandmother while her grandfather is in hospital.
to take care of someone. Care for somebody is less common and more formal than take care of/look after somebody: · He was cared for by a team of nurses.· Caring for an elderly relative can be very rewarding.
to look after someone who is ill: · He nursed his wife through a long illness.· The monks nursed him back to health (=looked after him until he was well again).
to look after children in the evening while their parents go out somewhere: · I’ll ask Jane to babysit on Wednesday night.· He used to babysit for Mary when she worked nights.
British English to look after a child while their parents are not there, especially for a short time: · Will you mind the baby while I go to the shop?
Longman Language Activatorto feel happy/frightened/bored etc: be happy/frightened/bored etc · Don't be scared -- the dog won't bite.· Hazel was furious when I lost her camera.feel happy/frightened/bored etc · She's feeling a little nervous about the wedding.· I couldn't help feeling a little sad when he left.· You shouldn't feel guilty - it wasn't your fault.
formal to feel a strong emotion such as joy, pride, or sorrow: · I experienced a great sense of loss when my father died.· When she was younger, my mother experienced a depression so severe she had to be hospitalized.
to feel an emotion such as sadness or disappointment so strongly that you are unable to remain calm or think clearly: · When Diana met the starving children she was overcome with pity and outrage.· Suddenly, I was overcome by a feeling of panic.· Receiving the prize in honour of her dead father, she was overcome with emotion.
: be burning with curiosity/desire/anger etc to have an emotion that is so strong that it is very difficult to control: · Martha was burning with curiosity but realized that now wasn't the time to ask questions.
to let a strong emotion show or affect you, especially after you have been trying not to feel it or show it: · Giving way to her grief, Anna burst into tears.· He was ashamed to have given way to such feelings of self-pity.
British /harbor American to have feelings, especially bad ones, in your mind for a long time: · Parker is believed to harbor political ambitions.· Some commuters still harbor resentment toward the protesters for blocking traffic and creating chaos.harbour a grudge: · Taylor denied harbouring a grudge against his former boss.
formal: nurse resentment/anger/a grievance/a grudge to have angry feelings for a long time but not express them: · Police believe the suspect nursed a grudge against women.· She never nurses a grievance or plans revenge.
to look after someone especially British to spend time with a child or with someone who is old or sick, and make sure they are safe and have the things they need: · Can you look after the kids for me this afternoon?· I've told you, I can't come. There's no one to look after Frieda.· Jonathon has no idea what it means to take care of a baby all day long. · We specialize in helping caregivers who take care of relatives in their own homes.
to look after someone who is very ill or very old by doing everything for them: · Elsie had to leave her job to care for her sick father.· St Helen's Hospice, which cares for the terminally ill, is holding a special fund-raising week.· It is one of the only charities to care for Aids patients and ex-prisoners.
British to look after children for a short time while their parents are out doing something else: · The woman who minds Pip and Emma collects them from school and gives them an evening meal.· Mothers who work part-time are able to mind other people's children when they are not working.
also sit American to look after children in the evening while their parents go out somewhere, especially when they pay you a small amount of money for doing this: · I'll ask Jane to babysit on Wednesday night.· Ask Alex and Joan next time you're babysitting.babysit for: · He used to babysit for Mary when she worked nights.· Jenny sat for us last Friday evening when we went to the movies.
to stay with a child and watch them to see that they are safe, especially for a short time: · Benjy, I want you to stay in the yard where I can keep an eye on you.· Would you mind keeping an eye on Stacey while I go for a cigarette?keep a close/careful/watchful eye on somebody: · He warned parents to continue to keep a close eye on their children.
to look after someone who is ill and to make them well again or to make them comfortable: · Tony nursed his wife through her long illness without ever complaining.· Irina had wanted to nurse him, but the doctors had sent her away.nurse somebody back to health (=look after a sick person until they are well again): · The monks tended his wounds and nursed him back to health.
British /caregiver American someone who looks after another person who is too young or ill to look after himself or herself - used especially on official forms, in official letters, in newspapers etc: · Hospital staff can provide additional home support for carers.· We have a high number of volunteer carers at the day centre.· Like many caregivers, Marian gave up her job to provide 24-hour care for an elderly relative.
WORD SETSafterbirth, nounantenatal, adjectiveartificial insemination, nounbaby blues, nounbarren, adjectivebarrier method, nounbear, verbbirth control, nounbreast-feed, verbbreech birth, nouncaesarean, nouncap, nounchildbearing, nounchildbirth, nounconceive, verbconfinement, nouncontraception, nouncontraction, nounC-section, noundeliver, verbdelivery, noundiaphragm, nounDutch cap, nounembryo, nounembryology, nouneugenics, nounfamily planning, nounfertility, nounfertility drug, nounfertilize, verbfetal, adjectivefetus, nounfoetal position, nounfoetus, nounfull-term, adjectivegestation, noungonad, nounincubator, nouninduce, verbinduction, nouninfant mortality rate, nouninfertile, adjectiveIUD, nounIVF, nounmaternal, adjectivematernity, nounmidwife, nounmidwifery, nounmilk, nounmiscarriage, nounmiscarry, verbmorning-after pill, nounmorning sickness, nounmother-to-be, nounmum-to-be, nounnatal, adjectivenatural, adjectivenatural childbirth, nounneuter, verbnurse, verbobstetrics, nounoral contraceptive, nounoviduct, nounovulate, verbovum, nounperinatal, adjectivepostnatal, adjectivepreemie, nounpregnancy, nounpregnant, adjectivepremature, adjectivepresentation, nounprocreate, verbproduce, verbquickening, nounreproduce, verbreproduction, nounreproductive, adjectiverhythm method, nounspay, verbsterile, adjectivesterilize, verbstillbirth, nounstillborn, adjectivestretch mark, nounsurrogate mother, nounswaddle, verbswaddling clothes, nountermination, nountest-tube baby, nountrimester, nounultrasound, nounumbilical cord, noununborn, adjectivewean, verbzygote, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY After Ray’s operation, Mrs Stallard nursed him back to health. For years he had nursed a grievance against his former employer.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
After Ray’s operation, Mrs Stallard nursed him back to health. For years he had nursed a grievance against his former employer. (=have it for a long time, especially secretly)· He had nursed an ambition to become a writer for many years.
· The important thing is the quality of the nursing care.
(=think a lot or for a long time about the fact you have been treated unfairly)· He was nursing a grievance about not being picked for the team.
(=to have a grudge and keep finding reasons for it)· She was still nursing a grudge against her grandfather.
· Mary had retired from the nursing profession.
(=someone who is learning to be a teacher, doctor, or nurse)· Student teachers work alongside qualified teachers to gain classroom experience.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· He falls into a fever, and is nursed back to health by the devoted Joe.· Some of them were skinny, he said, because people had given him sick animals to nurse back to health.· It is then Pip falls ill and is nursed back to good health by the good-natured health.· There he was gradually nursed back to health, but another eight years passed before he became champion again.
· She will soon have to go to a nursing home.· If so, how long do you have to be in a nursing home before it begins?· Visitation: One hour before services in the nursing home.· Over the next hour they prayed outside an underfunded nursing home, a struggling social services agency and a crack den.· Aiello owned Lincoln Care Center, a northern California nursing home.· Grabbing the phone book, he leafed through, looking for the number of the nursing home.· I imagine he would prefer to go out chasing after death rather than waiting passively for it in a nursing home.· Then he goes into a nursing home where everything is regimented and prescribed.
· But as the robots we hoped for, they are dumb, blind, and still nursing the wall plug.
NOUN· More crucial, in the president's eyes, is the fact that Se guin may be nursing other ambitions.
· Rosa was sitting in a white cane chair by the window, nursing a baby in her arms.· Farther along, a young black haired woman in a pink blouse nursed a baby in the shade.· That night, in the connubial bedroom, she sat up against a stack of pillows, nursing the baby.· One button, my grandmother used to say, made things easier when you were nursing babies.
· Planning individualised nursing care based on nursing models and the nursing process.· And it establishes care trusts and sets out legislation on long-term care excluding nursing care from community care services.
· The charge nurse and the nursing supervisor are the ones to talk to if there is any problem with personal care.· For personal care the chain of complaint is: physician, charge nurse, nursing supervisor, hospital administrator, hospital director.
· Mary MacArthur declared that women had no desire to keep working in factories while trying to nurse their children in crèches.· Parents will become superfluous, the robots will nurse and play with children.· The money raised will fund the training of a MacMillan nurse, who will nurse terminally ill children in their own homes.
· Fix the doctor or nurse up with white coats, stethoscope and little lights of the kind used for looking in ears.· The small staff of doctors, nurses and psychotherapists is steeling itself for an expected 100 percent increase in clients next year.· She paused now as Milton Berle ran around the operating room in his hospital johnny with the doctors and nurses chasing him.
· Since 1960, when they had been humiliated by the Summerdale police scandal, Chicago police had nursed a grudge.· Dawson had been nursing a grudge even more intense than that of the others.
· The hospital was short on nurses.
· Ronnie Carey: nursing an ankle injury which may force him to sit out Dungannon's opening All-Ireland League fixture.· Ismail caught only three passes for 95 yards, while nursing a minor ankle injury.· It could leave you nursing serious injuries.· This time around, Dirk Pitt is nursing injuries sustained during a volcanic eruption.· Lorna Payne acted as Director while Barbara Henry was nursing a bad injury.
· Medicaid finances health care for poor families, many of the disabled and many elderly nursing home patients.
· I had no idea how she would take it, but on past showing from other senior staff nurses I suspected badly.· The small staff of doctors, nurses and psychotherapists is steeling itself for an expected 100 percent increase in clients next year.· However, staff in residential and nursing homes generally receive little training in caring for the elderly.
· All the student nurses each had a small room with a desk and bed in the nurses' home.
· The woman they described had nursed three or four people whom she loved, through a final illness.· As one would expect, the labor force reflects the same predominance of women in nursing.
· Somewhere the sturdy beggars nursed their wounds and cursed.· An angel came down from heaven and nursed his wounds.· In the meantime left-handed Trevor is nursing the wounds he claims the nurse didn't detect.· Or central defender Teale who limped out of White Hart Lane, also nursing a wound above his left eye.· Those who stay behind spend their time looking for jobs, playing office politics or simply nursing their wounds.
VERB· Striding away from the house, Carolyn stubbed her toe badly on a brick end and had to sit down to nurse it.
WORD FAMILYnounnursenurserynursingverbnurse
1sick people a)[transitive] to look after someone who is ill or injured: He’s been nursing an elderly relative. After Ray’s operation, Mrs Stallard nursed him back to health. b)[intransitive usually in progressive] to work as a nurse: She spent several years nursing in a military hospital.2rest [transitive] to rest when you have an illness or injury so that it will get better: Shaw has been nursing an injury, and will not play on Sunday.GRAMMAR Nurse is never passive in this meaning.3feed a baby a)[intransitive, transitive] old-fashioned if a woman nurses a baby, she feeds it with milk from her breasts SYN breast-feed: information on nutrition for nursing mothers b)[intransitive] if a baby nurses, it sucks milk from its mother’s breast4your feelings [transitive] to keep a feeling or idea in your mind for a long time, especially an angry feelingnurse a grudge/grievance/ambition etc For years he had nursed a grievance against his former employer.GRAMMAR Nurse is never passive in this meaning.5take care of something [transitive] to take special care of something, especially during a difficult situationnurse something through/along etc He bought the hotel in 1927 and managed to nurse it through the Depression.6drink [transitive] informal if you nurse a drink, especially an alcoholic one, you drink it very slowly: Oliver sat at the bar, nursing a bottle of beer.7hold [transitive] literary to hold something carefully in your hands or arms close to your body: a child nursing a kitten