Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (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. 2. (n.) One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, fosters, or the like. 3. (n.) A lieutenant or first officer, who is the real commander when the captain is unfit for his place. 4. (n.) A peculiar larva of certain trematodes which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction. See Cercaria, and Redia. 5. (n.) Either one of the nurse sharks. 6. (v. t.) To nourish; to cherish; to foster 7. (v. t.) To nourish at the breast; to suckle; to feed and tend, as an infant. 8. (v. t.) To take care of or tend, as a sick person or an invalid; to attend upon. 9. (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. 10. (v. t.) To manage with care and economy, with a view to increase; as, to nurse our national resources. 11. (v. t.) To caress; to fondle, as a nurse does. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia NURSE; NURSING nurs, nurs'-ing: "Nurse" in the King James Version represents two different Hebrew words: In 8 passages (Genesis 24:59; Genesis 35:8 Exodus 2:7, 9 2 Kings 11:2 2 Chronicles 22:11 Isaiah 49:23) the word-noun or verb-renders some form of the verb yanaq, "to suck." The feminine causative part. of this verb is commonly used to denote nurse or foster-mother. According to Exodus 2:7 Moses' mother-"a nurse of the Hebrew women"-became, at Pharaoh's daughter's request, the foster-mother of the foundling. Joash, the son of Ahaziah, was in charge of a nurse until he was 7 years old (2 Kings 11:2 2 Chronicles 22:11). But it is obvious that the term was used in a more general way, e.g. of a lady's maid or tire-woman. Rebekah was accompanied by her nurse when she left home to be married (Genesis 24:59; Genesis 35:8). In 5 passages (Numbers 11:12 Ruth 4:16 2 Samuel 4:4 Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 60:4 the King James Version) "nurse" represents the Hebrew word, 'aman, "to support," "be faithful," "nourish." The participle of this verb denoted a person who had charge of young children-a guardian or governess. Naomi took charge of Ruth's child "and became nurse unto it" (Ruth 4:16). In Numbers 11:12 Moses asks whether he has to take charge of the Israelites "as a nursing-father carrieth the sucking child." The same word is found in 2 Kings 10:15 (the King James Version "them that brought up," i.e. "guardians of the sons of Ahab) and in Esther 2:7 (the King James Version "and he brought up," i.e. he (Mordecai) adopted, his niece). Deutero-Isaiah uses both terms together (Isaiah 49:23) to describe the exalted position of Israel in the future when foreign kings and queens will offer their services and wait upon the chosen people. In the solitary passage in the New Testament where "nurse" occurs, it renders the Greek word trophos. In this case the word does not mean a hired nurse, but a mother who nurses her own children (1 Thessalonians 2:7). T. Lewis

Multi-Version Concordance Nurse (23 Occurrences) Matthew 24:19 And woe to them that are with child, and to them that nurse infants in those days! (WBS) Mark 13:17 But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days! (WEB WBS) Luke 21:23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people. (WEB WBS) Acts 13:18 For a period of about forty years, He fed them, like a nurse, in the Desert. (WEY DBY) 1 Thessalonians 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV) Genesis 21:7 She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age." (WEB WBS NAS NIV) Genesis 24:59 They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham's servant, and his men. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 35:8 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Exodus 2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?" (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Exodus 2:9 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Numbers 11:12 Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that you should tell me,'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers?' (WEB NAS RSV NIV) Ruth 4:16 Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) 2 Samuel 4:4 Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel; and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Kings 1:2 Therefore his servants said to him, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm." (See NAS RSV) 1 Kings 1:4 The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king didn't know her intimately. (See NAS RSV) 1 Kings 3:21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore." (WEB WBS NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 11:2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedchamber; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain; (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 11:3 He was with her hid in the house of Yahweh six years. Athaliah reigned over the land. (See NIV) 2 Chronicles 22:11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she didn't kill him. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Isaiah 60:16 You shall also suck the milk of the nations, and shall nurse from royal breasts; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (WEB NIV) Isaiah 66:11 that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory." (WEB NAS NIV) Isaiah 66:12 For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will nurse. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees. (WEB NAS NIV) Lamentations 4:3 Even the jackals draw out the breast, they nurse their young ones: The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. (WEB WBS NAS NIV)