Nurse

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) Either one of the nurse sharks.

(2): ( n.) One who nourishes; a person who supplies food, tends, or brings up; as: (a) A woman who has the care of young children; especially, one who suckles an infant not her own. (b) A person, especially a woman, who has the care of the sick or infirm.

(3): ( n.) One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, fosters, or the like.

(4): ( n.) A lieutenant or first officer, who is the real commander when the captain is unfit for his place.

(5): ( n.) A peculiar larva of certain trematodes which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction. See Cercaria, and Redia.

(6): ( v. t.) To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase; as, to nurse our national resources.

(7): ( v. t.) To nourish; to cherish; to foster

(8): ( v. t.) To nourish at the breast; to suckle; to feed and tend, as an infant.

(9): ( v. t.) To take care of or tend, as a sick person or an invalid; to attend upon.

(10): ( v. t.) 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.

(11): ( v. t.) To caress; to fondle, as a nurse does.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The Bible contains various allusions to the tender and confidential relation anciently subsisting between a nurse and the children she had brought up,  Isaiah 49:22,23   1 Thessalonians 2:7,8 . See also the story of Rebekah, attended through life by her faithful and honored Deborah, the oak under which she was buried being called "The oak of weeping,"  Genesis 24:59   35:8 . The custom still prevails in the better families of Syria and India. Says Roberts in his Oriental Illustrations, "how often have scenes like this led my mind to the patriarchal age. The daughter is about for the first time to leave the paternal roof; the servants are all in confusion; each refers to things long gone by, each wishes to do something to attract the attention of his young mistress. One says, Ah do not forget him who nursed you when an infant;' another, How often did I bring you the beautiful lotus from the distant tank. Did I not always conceal your faults?' Then the mother comes to take leave. She weeps and tenderly embraces her, saying, My daughter, I shall see you no more; forget not your mother.' The brother enfolds his sister in his arms, and promises soon to come and see her. The father is absorbed in thought, and is only aroused by the sobs of the party. He then affectionately embraces his daughter, and tells her not to fear. The female domestics must each smell of the poor girl, and the men touch her feet. As Rebekah had her nurse to accompany her, so, at this day, the aya (nurse) who has from infancy brought up the bride goes with her to the new scene. She is her adviser, her assistant and friend, and to her will she tell all her hopes and all her fears."

King James Dictionary

Nurse n.

1. A woman that has the care of infants, or a woman employed to tend the children of others. 2. A woman who suckles infants. 3. A woman that has the care of a sick person. 4. A man who has the care of the sick. 5. A person that breeds, educates or protects hence, that which breeds, brings up or causes to grow as Greece, the nurse of the liberal arts. 6. An old woman in contempt. 7. The state of being nursed as, to put a child to nurse. 8. In composition, that which supplies food as a nurse-pond.

NURSE,

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 ffed to maintain to bring up.  Isaiah 60 . 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?

7. To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase as, to nurse our national resources.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

NURSE. Healthy women among the Hebrews in ancient times were accustomed to suckle their own children (  Genesis 21:7 ). As in Palestine to-day, the child was suckled for a long time, sometimes as much as three years (  1 Samuel 1:23 f., 2Ma 7:27 ). Weaning was the occasion of a joyful feast (  Genesis 21:8 ,   1 Samuel 1:24 ). But the nurse was also found in olden times in Israel, and was often held in great affection and honour (  Genesis 24:59;   Genesis 35:8 ,   Exodus 2:7 ,   2 Kings 11:2 ,   Isaiah 49:23 ,   1 Thessalonians 2:7 ). The nurse, mçneqeth , must be distinguished from the ’ômeneth , tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘nurse’ in   Ruth 4:18 ,   2 Samuel 4:4 , which means the attendant in charge of the child.

W. Ewing.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

The nurse in an eastern family is always an important personage. Modern travellers inform us, that in Syria she is considered as a sort of second parent, whether she has been foster-mother, or otherwise. She always accompanies the bride to her husband's house, and ever remains there an honoured character. Thus it was in ancient Greece. This will serve to explain  Genesis 24:59 : "And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse." In Hindostan the nurse is not looked upon as a stranger, but becomes one of the family, and passes the remainder of her life in the midst of the children she has suckled, by whom she is honoured and cherished as a second mother. In many parts of Hindostan are mosques and mausoleums, built by the Mohammedan princes, near the sepulchres of their nurses. They are excited by a grateful affection to erect these structures in memory of those who with maternal anxiety watched over their helpless infancy: thus it has been from time immemorial.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Τροφός (Strong'S #5162 — Noun Feminine — trophos — trof-os' )

translated "nurse" in  1—Thessalonians 2:7 , there denotes a "nursing" mother, as is clear from the statement "cherisheth her own children;" this is also confirmed by the word epios, "gentle" (in the same verse), which was commonly used of the kindness of parents towards children. Cp. trepho, "to bring up" (see Nourish

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Anciently a position of honour; so Deborah ("seen"),  Genesis 24:59;  Genesis 35:8;  Ruth 4:16. (See Deborah .) Figuratively; Moses was "as a nursing father bearing the sucking child" ( Numbers 11:12). So  Isaiah 49:23. So Paul, "we were gentle" (So The Alexandrinus Manuscript And The Ephraemi Rescriptus (C) , Epioi , but the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus 'infants,' Neepioi ) among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her own (Greek) children" ( 1 Thessalonians 2:7).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 21:7 Exodus 2:7 1 Samuel 1:23 1 Samuel 1:22-24 Genesis 21:8 Exodus 2:7 Genesis 24:59 Genesis 35:8 1 Thessalonians 2:7 2 Ruth 4:16 2 Samuel 4:4 3 1 Kings 1:4

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Nurse. In ancient times, the position of the nurse, wherever one was maintained, was one of much honor and importance. See  Genesis 24:59 ;  Genesis 36;8 ;  2 Samuel 4:4 ;  2 Kings 11:2 . The same term is applied to a foster-father or mother, for example,  Numbers 11:12;  Ruth 4:16;  Isaiah 49:23.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Numbers 11:12 (a) Moses uses this type to indicate the sweet, tender relationship which existed between his heart and the people of Israel who are here compared to his children.

 Isaiah 49:23 (a) This is descriptive of the manner and method by which the Gentile rulers will be made to serve the nation of Israel with their wealth and their power in the day of the millennium.

 1 Thessalonians 2:7 (a) Paul thus describes his loving care for GOD's people.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Such in O.T. times were held in esteem, as was Deborah, Rebekah's nurse,  Genesis 35:8 . Twice the expression, 'nursing fathers,' occurs, and queens are to be 'nursing mothers' to Israel in the future.  Numbers 11:12;  Isaiah 49:23 . Paul said, "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children."  1 Thessalonians 2:7 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(properly אֹמֵן , Omen', masc., Τιθηνός , nutrix. nutritius; fem. אֹמֶנֶת , Ome'Neth, Τιθηνός , Nutrix; from אָמִן , to Carry [see  Isaiah 60:4]; usually מֵינֶקֶת , meyne'keth, fem. part. Hiph., from יָנִק "suck," with אַשָּׁה Γυνὴ Τροφεύουσα [ Exodus 2:7]; in the N.T. Τροφός ‘ , Nutrix [ 1 Thessalonians 2:7]). Moses applied this term to himself in relation to Israel, though only to exiress his inability to fulfill what it required, or his sense of oppression under the responsibility involved in it ( Numbers 11:12). But more commonly it is applied to women, and much apparently in the same manner and with the same regard that is usual among ourselves. It is clear, both from Scripture and from Greek and Roman writers, that in ancient times the position of the nurse. wherever one was maintained, was one of much hone and importance (see  Genesis 24:59;  Genesis 35:8;  2 Samuel 4:4;  2 Kings 11:2;  2 Maccabees 1:20; comp. Homer, Od. 2:361; 19:15, 251, 466; Eurip. Ion, i357; Hippol. 267 and foll.; Virgil, AEn. 7:1). The same term is applied to a foster father or mother, e.g.  Numbers 11:12;  Ruth 4:16;  Isaiah 49:23. In great families male servants, probably eunuchs in later times, were intrusted with the charge of the boys ( 2 Kings 1:5; see also Kuran, 4:63, Tegg's ed.; Mrs. Poole, Englw. in Egypt, 3:201). (See Child).

In Christian times nursing the sick has ever been the special care of pious females, and many have devoted themselves to this work, in hospitals and elsewhere, both in war and peace, with religious earnestness. Among the Roman Catholics this is one of the special duties of the "Sisters of Charity."