different between foster vs harbour

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f?st?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f?st?/
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /?f?st?/
• Rhymes: -?st?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English foster, from Old English f?stor (“food, sustenance”), from Proto-Germanic *f?str? (“nourishment, food”). Cognate with Middle Dutch voester (“nursemaid”), Middle Low German vôster (“food”), Old Norse fóstr (“nurturing, education, alimony, child support”), Danish foster (“fetus”), Swedish foster (“fetus”).

Adjective

foster (not comparable)

1. Providing parental care to children not related to oneself.

   foster parents

2. Receiving such care.

   a foster child

3. Related by such care.

   We are a foster family.

Translations

Noun

foster (countable and uncountable, plural fosters)

1. (countable, informal) A foster parent.

   Some fosters end up adopting.

2. (uncountable) The care given to another; guardianship.

Verb

foster (third-person singular simple present fosters, present participle fostering, simple past and past participle fostered)

1. (transitive) To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.
2. (transitive) To cultivate and grow something.
3. (transitive) To nurse or cherish something.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be nurtured or trained up together.

Antonyms

• (cultivate and grow): hinder

Derived terms

Usage notes

Modern English makes a distinction between fostering (which is implied to be temporary or informal) and adopting (which is permanent and makes the child legally recognized as part of the family). In older usage the two terms were more interchangeable.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

foster (plural fosters)

1. (obsolete) A forester.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

Anagrams

• Forest, Forets, Fortes, fetors, forest, forset, fortes, fortés, froste, softer

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr (“rear, raise”)

Noun

foster n (singular definite fostret or fosteret, plural indefinite fostre)

1. fetus

Inflection

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr

Noun

foster n (definite singular fosteret or fostret, indefinite plural foster or fostre, definite plural fostra or fostrene)

1. (biology) a fetus or foetus

Derived terms

• fostervann

Related terms

• embryo

References

• “foster” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr

Noun

foster n (definite singular fosteret, indefinite plural foster, definite plural fostera)

1. (biology) a fetus or foetus

Related terms

• embryo

References

• “foster” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Alternative forms

• f?ster, f?stor, f?stur

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *f?str?, from Proto-Indo-European *peh?- (“to protect”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fo?s.ter/

Noun

f?ster n

1. fostering, nourishing, rearing, feeding
2. food, nourishment, provisions

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Middle English: foster
  • English: foster

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “f?ster”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr (“rear, raise”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?st?r/

Noun

foster n

1. fetus

Declension

Related terms

• fosterbror
• fosterfördrivning
• fosterhem
• fostersyster
• fostra

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h??b?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?h??b??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)b?(?)

Noun

harbour (plural harbours)

1. Commonwealth of Nations standard spelling of harbor.

Derived terms

• Rosslare Harbour

Translations

Verb

harbour (third-person singular simple present harbours, present participle harbouring, simple past and past participle harboured)

1. Commonwealth of Nations standard spelling of harbor.

   The docks, which once harboured tall ships, now harbour only petty thieves.

   • The bare suspicion made it treason to harbour the person suspected.

   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert

     Nor let your gentle Breast harbor one Thought Of Outrage from the Kin.

References

• “harbour”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.