nursed

8 definitions • 8 examples

past simple and past participle of

to care for a person or an animal while they are ill:

He gave up his job so that he could nurse his mother at home.

They found an injured cat and carefully nursed it back to health (= until it was well again).

to spend a lot of time taking care of something as it grows or develops:

These young trees were carefully nursed by the head gardener.

The project will have to be nursed through its first few months.

If you nurse an illness or injury, you rest until it gets better:

Robert's in bed nursing a back injury.

to hold a small child in your arms as a way of making them feel better:

She nursed the crying child on her lap.

When a woman nurses a baby, she feeds it with milk from her breasts.

to have a strong feeling or an emotion for a long time:

She had long nursed a passion for Japanese art.

to hold a drink for a long time without drinking it:

Mark was sitting in the corner nursing an almost empty bottle of beer.