nursing

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The profession or practice of caring for patients as a trained nurse.

   Modern nursing demands both clinical skill and steady compassion.

   She left teaching to pursue a career in nursing.

   Note

   A field one goes into, the way one goes into law or teaching: she went into nursing, a career in nursing. Florence Nightingale, in Una and the Lion (1871), claimed it as an art. She said it required as exclusive a devotion and as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work, which presents the profession as a discipline to be trained for and not simply a kindness.

2. 2
   adjective

   Relating to nurses or the care that they provide.

   The hospital expanded its nursing team to cover the night shift.

   He completed a nursing qualification through an evening course.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of feeding a baby or young animal with milk from the breast.

   Nursing helped strengthen the bond between mother and infant.

   The clinic offered support to new mothers struggling with nursing.

   Similarbreastfeeding, suckling

4. 4
   adjective

   Currently suckling young and producing milk; lactating.

   The clinic advised nursing mothers to increase their daily calorie intake.

   The farmer kept the nursing ewes in a sheltered pen.

   Note

   Before a noun, the word can point two ways. A nursing mother is feeding her young, while the adjective for nurses gives us nursing staff. Context nearly always settles it. This sense describes mothers and female animals, like a nursing bear or a nursing ewe. The other describes people, teams and qualifications in health care.

5. 5
   verb

   Present participle of nurse.

   She is nursing a deep cut on her arm that refuses to close.

   The volunteers spent the winter nursing injured wildlife in the shelter.

   Note

   The participle carries every sense of the verb, so the object decides which one is meant. It can mean suckling (nursing her baby), tending the sick, handling something with care, or, informally, nursing a drink to make it last. Taking an object is also what separates it from the lactating adjective. A mother nursing her baby shows the verb at work, while a nursing mother uses the adjective before a noun.

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