nursery

noun

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’).

1. A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.

   “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.”

2. A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.
3. A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.
4. A place where anything is fostered and growth promoted.

   “[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.”

5. A place where anything is fostered and growth promoted.
6. A place where anything is fostered and growth promoted.

   “[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.”

   “Managers of small nurseries may also come into direct contact with the public, who may have complaints about invasive nursery plants or may want varieties that a nursery manager considers invasive. Thus, retail nursery managers have an important role in educating both the consumer public and the wholesale nursery sector in environmental weed issues.”

7. A place where anything is fostered and growth promoted.
8. Something which educates and nurtures.

   “Commerce is the nursery of seamen.”

   “The Apoſtles in their travails took ſome choice, and hopeful perſons to accompany them, to Miniſter unto them, and obſerve their waies, who were a kind of ſeminary, or nurſery of Apoſtles, planted, with deſigned ſucceſſors.”

9. Ellipsis of nursery cannon (“a carom shot involving balls that are very close together”).
10. Someone or something that is nursed; a nursling.
11. The act of nursing or rearing.

    “I lou'd her moſt, and thought to ſet my reſt / On her kind nurcery, [...]”