nurturen.
/ˈnəːtʃə/, U.S. /ˈnərtʃər/ 1. † b. Moral training or discipline. Obsolete.
a. A person's breeding, upbringing, education, or training (in early use esp. in matters of behaviour and etiquette). Now rare.Occasionally used with reference to the training of an animal.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > upbringing > [noun]
nourishingc1325
nurturec1330
afaitementc1400
nurseryc1400
nortelryc1405
alterage?c1450
nouriturec1450
rulec1525
upbringingc1525
education1527
nourituring1555
nutriture1567
breeding1577
nurturing1578
nuzzling1586
rearing1611
frame1632
seasoning1649
nurtureship1837
child-rearing1842
paedotrophy1857
raising1929
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 8620 (MED) Ful y knawe him of worþschipe, Of nortour, and of hendeschippe.
c1330 (?c1300) Reinbrun (Auch.) in J. Zupitza Guy of Warwick (1891) 635 (MED) Norture y schel him lere.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 188 (MED) Gentille of norture & noble of lynage Was non þat bare armure þat did suilk vassalage.
J. Metham Amoryus & Cleopes (1916) 97 (MED) Off mene stature was Amoryus..fulle of norture and curtesye.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 375 He sente yonge Tristrams..into Fraunce to lerne the langage and nurture and dedis of armys.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 122 (MED) He was of hey nourtoure, wel prowed, and I-lernyd of al Sciencis.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. C.iijv His father in his youthe had taught him good nurture.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 11 The greatest preferment, that childe we can geue, is learning & nurture, to trayne him to leue.
c1600 Timon (1980) iii. v. 49 Yee are both like in nature, & in nurture.
1607 Statute in Hist. Wakefield School (1892) 60 The general course of Religion and good nurture in the scollers of this schole.
1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 3 To drive our dullest and laziest youth..from the infinite desire of such a happy nurture.
1750 A. Hill tr. Voltaire Merope (ed. 2) iv. i. 41 No Race of Hercules need, there, alarm you. This but some rural Brave, of simple Nurture; Void of Ambition's Flame: Bold, blunt and honest.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby vi. 296 He bred him in their nurture wild.
1867 F. Parkman Jesuits in N. Amer. ix. 99 Both were of noble birth and gentle nurture.
1929 R. Hughes High Wind in Jamaica viii. 179 This crime would have seemed to them grave on the part of a grown man..but done by one of her years, and nurture, it was unspeakable.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > instilling ideas > [noun] > edification
nurture1526
edification1660
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Eph. vi. 4 Brynge them uppe with the norter and informacion off the Lorde.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ecclus. xviii. Contents God suffreth longe, rebuketh and teacheth all soch as wil receaue nurtoure.
1611 Bible (King James) Wisd. iii. 11 Who so despiseth wisedome, and nurture, he is miserable. View more context for this quotation
1637 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. xcviii. 251 Yet I get my meat from Christ with nurture.
1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. 177 Besides, here they shall besure to have good Nurture and Admonition. View more context for this quotation
c. Scottish (Aberdeenshire). Harsh treatment; chastisement.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > [noun] > corrective
chastiment?c1225
yard?c1225
chastisement1303
chastising1303
disciplinec1350
correctionc1386
castigationc1397
chastementc1425
nurturing1460
disciplining1532
chastice1594
disciplining1645
schooling1703
tickle-toby1830
nurture1911
1911 Aberdeen Jrnl. Notes & Queries 4 50/2 Nortar, hard exercise, chastisement (known in New Deer).
1932 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 13 Apr. Sic nortir wid 'a gart the thickest hided cuddy yowl!
1960 in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. 443/3 The snawdraps got awfu norter last year.
2.
a. The bringing up, rearing, or training of a person or animal, esp. a child; tutelage; care (frequently with of). Also: the fact of having been brought up in a particular social environment (in later use esp. as a factor influencing or determining personality, as opposed to a person's innate characteristics; cf. nature n. 7e). †in nurture: (of a child) being cared for, in one's care (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > care, protection, or charge > [noun] > fostering care
nurturec1330
nursing?1533
fosterhood1834
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 2855 (MED) He stamered a litel wiȝt, Þat he it hadde in nortoure Þurth þe norices coure.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 2847 (MED) Here [i.e. in Thebes] hadden þe goddes her norture [a1425 Linc. Inn of nortour].
c1436 Domesday Ipswich (BL Add. 25011) in T. Twiss Black Bk. Admiralty (1873) II. 91 (MED) They have non..power to maryen swich a child in his norture..but the child and his next frend willen assenten.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xv. 678 (MED) In hem bothe I trosted ful wel, For Of myn Norture weren they Eueridel.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 102 (MED) Youre fader I am as in norture, but certes I dide yow neuer engender.
1590 W. Segar Bk. Honor & Armes v. 72 A great sort of our Gentlemen (chieflie those that haue had their nurture at home with their owne ignorant parents).
1646 J. Temple Irish Rebell. 8 (margin) Alliance by marriage, nurture of Infants, and gossipred with the Irish are high treason.
1676 W. Allen Serious & Friendly Addr. Non-conformists 44 Whom God put under the nurture of believing Parents, or Tutors.
1727 A. Pope et al. Περι Βαθους: Art of Sinking 90 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. That to prevent unmarried Actresses making away with their Infants, a competent Provision be allow'd for the Nurture of them.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 449 Of the several species of guardians, the first are guardians by nature..There are also guardians for nurture.
1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson 52 A character self-formed, as owing nothing to parental nurture, and scarce anything to moral tuition.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) III. 372 If guardian by nurture make a lease by indenture to one, being under the title of the infant.
1860 J. Abbott Amer. Hist. I. vi. 156 In all cases where the nurture of the young of any animal..requires more than the mother herself alone can do for them.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xxi. 696 After eighteen days of nurture the young bat showed signs of becoming neurasthenic.
1953 Jrnl. Politics 15 225 The personality of a person consists of hereditary factors, the products of original nature, and of acquired factors, the products of environment or nurture.
1998 Independent 23 Oct. ii. 1/3 It repudiates the theory, which is sacred to most gay people, that the homosexual condition is about nature not nurture.
b. In extended use: the careful fostering, cultivation, or encouraging of something.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > attention to or cultivation
cultivation1639
nurture1789
1789 W. Jones tr. Kalidása Sacontalá i. 16 Your nurture of these plants has prospered; and thence it is, that I foretel your approaching nuptials.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. ii. 33/2 I..acknowledge the all but omnipotence of early culture and nurture: hereby we have either a doddered dwarf bush, or a high-towering, wide-shadowing tree.
1869 J. S. Mill Subjection of Women i Certain products of the general vital force..reach a great development in this heated atmosphere and under this active nurture and watering.
1896 A. R. White Youth's Educator xxiv. 298 The bright blossoms of love and confidence which cannot live without careful nurture.
1907 J. M. Synge Playboy of Western World (1979) ii. 69 All should rear up lengthy families for the nurture of the earth.
1941 W. J. Cash Mind of South ii. i. 121 The whole atmosphere..was perfectly calculated for the nurture of the taste for the extravagant, the intense, and the bold and flashing.
1995 Church Times 13 Oct. 2/5 Australian Aborigines..joined native Hawaiians and the First Nation Peoples of Canada and the United States to discuss the preservation and nurture of indigenous cultures.
3. That which nourishes someone or something; nourishment, food. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > sustenance or nourishment
foodOE
fosterc1000
fodnethOE
flittinga1225
livenotha1225
nourishingc1300
sustenancec1300
livelihoodc1325
nurture1340
fosteringc1386
livingc1405
nouriturea1425
nutriment?a1425
nutrition?a1425
lifehood1440
reliefa1450
nourishmentc1450
nurshingc1450
sustentationc1450
nutrimentc1485
alimenta1500
sustainmenta1500
bielda1522
creature1540
suck1584
mantiniment1588
fosterment1593
the three M's1938
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 113 (MED) Ine þise breade is more..of norture [Fr. norreture] þanne me moȝe þenche oþer zigge.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 313v Swetenesse is þe propre sauour of norture if it is stedefast..in the membres.
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) 1630 (MED) Iuno..bisyly dide hir cure To yive him mylke to hys norture.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 4222 (MED) Þei reuen þe body of norture..Þat it no greece gadre may.
1596 E. Spenser Hymne in Honour of Love 39 Your lovers feeble eyes you feed, But sterve their harts that needeth nourture most.
1610 J. Mason Tvrke ii. ii Borg. High comets from the earth draw vp then nurture. Iul. Yet from the Sunne true starres haue all their lustre.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 362 For this did the Angel twice descend? for this Ordain'd thy nurture holy, as of a Plant. View more context for this quotation
1722 W. Philips Hibernia Freed 6 Warm'd by your Beams, we may dispute the Prize, The strongest Plant without due Nurture dies.
1731 P. Frowde Philotas iii. 37 Thou..that in Excess Of Fondness feeds thee, like the Pelican, But with her purest Blood; and in return Thou tear'st the Bosom, whence thy Nurture flows.
1773 A. Murphy Alzuma v. 66 I never meant to harm That matron breast that gave its nurture to me.
1813 T. Busby tr. Lucretius Nature of Things v. 1028 Milk-like nurture from her bosom flowed.
1880 R. D. Blackmore Mary Anerley III. iv. 55 He fed him well, and nourished himself, and took nurture for the road.
1978 M. S. Peck Road less Traveled ii. 167 If one wants to climb mountains one must have a good base camp..where one may receive nurture and rest before one ventures forth again to seek another summit.
Compounds
nurture-giving adj. [in quot. 1777 translating ancient Greek θρεπτήριος, a derivative of τρέϕειν to rear, nurture]
ΚΠ
1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Tragedies 319 These crisped locks, Once sacred to the nurture-giving stream Of Inachus.
1888 in D. B. W. Sladen Cent. Austral. Song 434 When to fruit or flower loth All things are, it teems with both, Shady, fragrant, nurture-giving When they show scant signs of living.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
nurturev.
/ˈnəːtʃə/, U.S. /ˈnərtʃər/ 1.
a. transitive. To feed or nourish (a child, animal, etc.); to support and raise to maturity; to rear. Also occasionally intransitive with passive meaning.In quot. 1692 used in figurative context.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > upbringing > [verb (transitive)]
i-teon975
forthbringc1000
forthwiseOE
nourishc1300
nurshc1325
feedc1330
updraw1390
uprearc1400
educate1445
norrya1450
nurturea1450
to bring up1484
endue1526
nuzzle1558
rear1558
nurse1584
to breed up1611
cradle1613
breed1650
raise1744
rare1798
mud1814
to fetch up1841
rise1843
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feed or nourish [verb (transitive)]
afeedeOE
foddereOE
feedc950
fosterc1175
fooda1225
nourishc1300
nurshc1325
nourishc1384
abechea1393
relievec1425
norrya1450
nurturea1450
pasturec1450
foisonc1485
bield1488
aliment1490
repast1494
nutrifya1500
repatera1522
battle1548
forage1552
nurse1591
substantiate1592
refeed1615
alumnate1656
focillate1656
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xxxv. 216 (MED) His Eldest sone..was put Into thike partye For to Norture [Fr. gouvrener].
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1905) II. 437 (MED) He..garte name it & nurtur it.
c1475 Advice to Lovers in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems J. Lydgate (1840) 41 (MED) But also pleyne was his bedde at the morwe, As at even so was he nortured wele.
?c1510 tr. Newe Landes & People founde by Kynge of Portyngale sig. Dij All the other byrdes..gyue them mete & drinke to the tyme that the can flee and nurter them selfe.
1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 81 By his Grandsyre nourisht vp And nurtred from a boye.
1692 R. Bentley Confut. Atheism from Struct. & Origin Humane Bodies: 3rd Pt. 35 They suppose Mother Earth to be a great Animal, and to have nurtured up her young Offspring with a conscious Tenderness.
a1717 W. Diaper tr. Oppian Halieuticks (1722) i. 53 Each Parent Fish her Young in Danger hides, Nurtures the Fry, and in her Likeness prides.
1762 T. Smollett Adventures Sir Launcelot Greaves II. xx. 189 Woman, (said he) these be hopeful babes, if they were duly nurtured.
1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xviii. 338 The grub is nurtured neither by the father nor the mother, but by the neutral bee.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned I. iii. 42 The woman who nurtured me as my mother was rather capricious than kind.
1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table viii He was not nurtured by the best of mothers.
1900 J. MacCunn Making of Char. ii. iii. 70 It is of the child as nurtured in home and social circle he [sc. Wordsworth] has to speak, and of what the ministry of Nature can do for it.
1988 G. Palmer Politics of Breastfeeding ii. 13 The oyster..produces millions of eggs to be fertilised in the sea and does no parenting. K-strategists produce far fewer offspring, but nurture them.
b. transitive. In extended use: to care for and encourage the growth or development of; to foster, cultivate. Also: to cherish or treasure within oneself (a hope, feeling, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > think or have in mind [verb (transitive)] > cherish
breed?c1225
cherishc1385
entertain1567
nursle1746
nurture1792
reverie1832
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman viii. 319 Public spirit must be nurtured by private virtue, or it will resemble the factitious sentiment which makes women careful to preserve their reputation, and men their honour.
1847 H. Miller Test. Rocks (1857) iii. 115 It has been said that they nurture infidel propensities.
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxi. 298 The Lieutenant began to nurture a secret affection for Scotland.
1912 H. Belloc This & That 137 Most of our trees were planted and carefully nurtured by man's hand.
1954 W. C. Williams Sel. Ess. 173 It is bred of the bone of the country itself, nurtured from its plains and streams.
1985 J. Randle & M. Watanabe Coping with Japan 151 Persistence pays: keeping in touch, making visits, nurturing the market.
1997 I. Sinclair Lights out for Territory (1998) 326 So that suspicion can fall on middle management boffins or aristos who nurture a shameful secret.
c. transitive. With on. To provide with nourishment from a specified source. Frequently figurative.
ΚΠ
1793 H. Boyd Temple of Vesta v, in Poem 222 One, early nurtur'd on the sacred lore Of truth.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus i. 25 That very Rat, who, like the Pontic tyrant, Nurtures himself on poison.
1858 A. Trollope Dr. Thorne I. ix. 200 The voice was..not clear and sonorous. What voice that is nurtured on brandy can ever be clear?
1920 C. Carswell Open Door! i. vii. 124 Juley nurtured her babes on the belief that God has a spiritual purpose in the life of each one of his creatures.
1959 D. Cooke Lang. Music v. 232 To their ears, nurtured on the normal ‘tasteful’ classical style of the galant and rococo periods, Mozart's exploitation of the expressive power of music..appeared to be wild and perverse experiments.
1989 Guardian (BNC) 11 Nov. For a generation of Americans, schooled and nurtured on the doctrines of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall was the supreme symbol of Communism and all its evil works.
2. † b. transitive. To cause (a person) to turn away or refrain from a practice. Obsolete. rare.
a. transitive. To train, educate. Now chiefly with in.In some instances hard to distinguish from sense 1a.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > [verb (transitive)]
tighta1000
teec1000
thewc1175
forma1340
informc1350
nurturec1475
train1531
breeda1568
train1600
to lick (a person or thing) into (shape , etc.)1612
scholar1807
educate1826
c1475 Advice to Lovers in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems J. Lydgate (1840) 36 (MED) Ther was one..that semed..Humble, sobre, nortured with reverence.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 237 (MED) They wer..welle I-shapin, wel I-norsshid, & welle I-norturid.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Titus ii. 4 That they nurter the yonge wemen for to love their husbandes.
?1577 J. Northbrooke Spiritus est Vicarius Christi: Treat. Dicing To Rdr. sig. a A child..in tender yeares brought vp In Vertues schoole, and nurtred wel.
1638 F. Rous Heavenly Acad. viii. 126 He will delight to teach and nurture thee.
1652 J. Hall tr. Longinus Περι Ὑψους 14 We ought to nurture our souls to greatnesse.
1738 G. Berkeley Disc. Magistrates & Men in Authority 13 The Savage State of undisciplined Men, whose Minds are nurtured to no Doctrine.
1775 E. Burke Speech Amer. Taxation 26 Persons who are nurtured in office do admirably well, as long as things go on in their common order.
1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 532 My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades Of Academus—is this false or true?
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna i. xxxvii. 19 Before A woman's heart beat in my virgin breast, It had been nurtured in divinest lore.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola I. xi. 194 He had been nurtured in contempt for the tales of priests.
1937 Dict. National Biogr. 1922–30 at Burt, Thomas His son was..nurtured in trade-unionism.
1991 T. Enright Day in our Life (1993) Introd. 12 Seán, nurtured in this ancient art, brings flesh and blood before us with conversational ease and rollicking humour.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > direct [verb (transitive)] > turn (something) to a (different) direction > turn away
awendOE
to turn awaya1225
wryc1400
reversec1540
evert1569
avert1578
nurture1627
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from (action) [verb (transitive)]
holdc897
forgoa1000
oversitOE
forbearc1200
letc1330
to let bec1385
to lay apart1526
refrain1528
to let pass1530
retainc1540
abstain1578
restrain1594
stay1599
nurture1627
withhold1650
waive1653
inhold1655
withstand1852
skip1961
1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. 366 As a fatherly correction and chasticement, to nurture vs from some past sinne.
3. transitive. To discipline, chasten; to punish. Now rare (Scottish in later use). Sc. National Dict. (1965) records the sense as still in use in Aberdeenshire in 1964.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)] > inflict disciplinary or corrective punishment
thewc1175
castea1200
chaste?c1225
amendc1300
chastyc1320
chastise1362
corrigec1374
correct1377
scourgec1384
disple1492
orderc1515
nurturec1520
chasten1526
whip1530
discipline1557
school1559
swinge1560
penance1580
disciple1596
castigatea1616
to serve out1829
c1520 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1905) III. 130 (margin) Almychtj Gode euir..preiffit [h]is chosin..be nortouryng thaim with outwarde plagis.
1528 W. Tyndale Doctr. Treat. (1848) 136 God laid him where he could neither see sun nor moon.., to nurture him,..and to teach him God's ways.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Kings xii. 11 My father correcte you with scourges, but I will nourtoure you with scorpions.
a1564 T. Becon Common-pl. Holy Script. in Wks. (1844) II. iii. 93 They verely for a fewe daies nurtred vs after their own pleasure; But he nurtreth vs for our profit.
1610 Bible (Douay) II. Prov. xiii. 24 He that spareth the rod, hateth his childe; but he that loveth him doth instantly nurture him.
1636 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. lxx. 182 You have had your own large share of troubles..; but it saith your Father counteth you not a bastard; full-begotten bairns are nurtured.
a1851 A. Aitken Poems (1873) 106 Loud they gar their lang whips play smack, The yauds to nortor.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1330
v.a1450