Nurse

Nurse Nurse, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Nursed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Nursing}.] 1. To nourish; to cherish; to foster; as: (a) To nourish at the breast; to suckle; to feed and tend, as an infant. (b) To take care of or tend, as a sick person or an invalid; to attend upon. [1913 Webster]

Sons wont to nurse their parents in old age. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Him in Egerian groves Aricia bore, And nursed his youth along the marshy shore. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2. To bring up; to raise, by care, from a weak or invalid condition; to foster; to cherish; -- applied to plants, animals, and to any object that needs, or thrives by, attention. ``To nurse the saplings tall.'' --Milton. [1913 Webster]

By what hands [has vice] been nursed into so uncontrolled a dominion? --Locke. [1913 Webster]

3. To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase; as, to nurse our national resources. [1913 Webster]

4. To caress; to fondle, as a nurse does. --A. Trollope. [1913 Webster]

{To nurse billiard balls}, to strike them gently and so as to keep them in good position during a series of caroms. [1913 Webster]