Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dry nurse

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.24 in modern English

Syllables
dry nurse
IPA
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A nurse who takes care of a baby, but does not breastfeed.

noun

An inferior officer who carries on the duty on board ship, due to the captain's ignorance of seamanship.

Archaic; Slang

verb

To feed, attend, and bring up without suckling.

verb

Of an inferior officer: to carry on the duty on board ship, due to the captain's ignorance of seamanship.

Archaic; Slang

Example Sentences

Etymology

To distinguish from a wet nurse, who suckles a baby.

Usage

Inflected Forms

dry nurses (plural) dry nurses (present, singular) dry nursing (participle, present) dry nursed (participle, past) dry nursed (past)

Frequently Paired Words

wet nurse

Questions

What does dry nurse mean?
A nurse who takes care of a baby, but does not breastfeed.
Where does dry nurse come from?
To distinguish from a wet nurse, who suckles a baby.

How to pronounce dry nurse

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dry nurse”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “dry nurse”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “dry nurse” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.