nursery
/ˈnɝsəɹi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.89 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.
British usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "As soon as she was alone and the carriage had been driven well away from the door, Mrs. Trevelyan left the drawing-room and went up to the nursery. As she entered she clothed her face with her sweetest smile. "How is his own mother's dearest, dearest, darling duck?" she said, putting out her arms and taking the boy from the nurse."
- "But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking."
- "[S]ince for the great deſire I had To ſee faire Padua, nurſerie of Arts, I am arriu'd for fruitfull Lombardie, The pleaſant garden of great Italy."
- "Playes are the nurseries of vice, the bawd, / That thorow the senses steales our hearts abroad, / Tainting our eares with obscæne bawdery, / Lascivious words, and wanton ribaulry."
- "Nudgee College is regarded as the greatest rugby nursery in Queensland, with the boys in the blue-and-white butcher's stripes winning more Greater Public School rugby premierships than any other team."
- "[I]f we had but one skilful and diligent Nurſery-man, who had a complete Nurſery of all ſorts of good fruit, and of the beſt Vines that agree beſt with this Climate, and Mulberry Trees, and wholſom Trees for the avenues of Cities, Towns, and fair Manſions; That one ſuch Nurſery within ten or fifteen miles in all the Vales of theſe three united Kingdoms, would make all theſe Plantations ſpread apace, and amount to the value of Millions yearly. [...] I am ſure, that many in Wiltſhire, Hampſhire, Dorſetſhire, and Sommerſetſhire are obliged and the richer for the famous Garden of Wilton, and for the goodly Nurſeries about Saliſbury."
Etymology
From Middle English noricerie, norserye (“children's nursery; state of being fostered or nursed; education, upbringing”) [and other forms], from Old French norricerie, nourricerie, from norrice, nourrice (modern French nourrice (“childminder, nanny; wet nurse”)) + -erie (suffix forming feminine nouns). Norrice and nourrice are derived from Late Latin nūtrīcia (“wet nurse”), from Latin nūtrīcius (“that nurses or suckles; nourishing”), from nūtriō (“to breastfeed, nurse, suckle”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to flow”). The English word may be analysed as nourice, nurse + -ery (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘place of’).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnɝsəɹi/
- British English: /ˈnɜːsəɹi/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- British usage
- Obsolete
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
animal nursery
day nursery
night nursery
nursery finance
nursery nurse
nursery pudding
nursery rhyme
nursery school