different between babysit vs nurse

English

Alternative forms

• baby-sit

Etymology

Back-formation from babysitter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?be?bi.s?t/

Verb

babysit (third-person singular simple present babysits, present participle babysitting, simple past and past participle babysat)

1. To watch or tend someone else's child for a period of time, often for money.

   My daughter is babysitting for the Morgans at number ten, who are going out on a date night.

   We need someone to babysit our children while we go to the theater.
2. (transitive, informal) To watch or attend anything or anyone unnecessarily closely; to have to help or coax too much.

   He left me to babysit the new guy while he got some work done.

   • 2016, Christopher Vasey, Nazi Intelligence Operations in Non-Occupied Territories (page 175)

     It was observed by the FBI personnel assigned to “babysit” agent Tricycle that his egregiously excessive spending was causing unwanted attention […]

Translations

Danish

Verb

babysit

1. imperative of babysitte

English

Alternative forms

• nourice (archaic)
• norice (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Latin n?tr?cius (“that nourishes”), from n?tr?x (“wet nurse”), from n?tri? (“to suckle”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /n??s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /n?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s

Noun

nurse (plural nurses)

1. (archaic) A wet nurse.
2. A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s young.

3. A person trained to provide care for the sick.
   • 1990, Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 4

     Francis Urquhart: Right. Mackenzie. Health. No chance of getting him into a demo at a hospital, I suppose?
     Tim Stamper: Doesn't go to hospitals any more. Kept getting beaten up by the nurses... I think he has trouble getting insured now.

4. (figuratively) One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, or fosters.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise

5. (horticulture) A shrub or tree that protects a young plant.
6. (nautical) A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.
7. A larva of certain trematodes, which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction.
8. A nurse shark.

Usage notes

• Some speakers consider nurses (medical workers) to be female by default, and thus use "male nurse" to refer to a man doing the same job.

Derived terms

• nurse practitioner
• snotty's nurse
• wet nurse, wet-nurse

Descendants

Translations

Verb

nurse (third-person singular simple present nurses, present participle nursing, simple past and past participle nursed)

1. (transitive) To breastfeed: to feed (a baby) at the breast; to suckle.

   She believes that nursing her baby will make him strong and healthy.

2. (intransitive) To breastfeed: to be fed at the breast.
3. (transitive) To care for (someone), especially in sickness; to tend to.

   She nursed him back to health.

4. to treat kindly and with extra care

   She nursed the rosebush and that season it bloomed.

5. to manage with care and economy

   Synonym: husband

6. to drink slowly, to make it last

   Rob was nursing a small beer.

7. to foster, to nourish
8. to hold closely to one's chest

   Would you like to nurse the puppy?

9. (billiards) To strike (billiard balls) gently, so as to keep them in good position during a series of shots.
   • 1866, United States. Congress. Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Supplemental report of the Joint Committee

     It is to our interest to let Lee and Johnston come together, just as a billiard-player would nurse the balls when he has them in a nice place

Usage notes

In sense “to drink slowly”, generally negative and particularly used for someone at a bar, suggesting they either cannot afford to buy another drink or are too miserly to do so. By contrast, sip is more neutral.

Synonyms

• (drink slowly): sip, see also Thesaurus:drink

Translations

See also

• matron
• sister

Further reading

• nurse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• nurse in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• nurse at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Nurse in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Nuers, Suren, Unser, runes, urnes

Middle English

Noun

nurse

1. Alternative form of norice