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wet-nurse

wet-nurse
W w

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [wet nurs]
    • /wɛt nɜrs/
    • /wet nɜːs/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [wet nurs]
    • /wɛt nɜrs/

Definitions of wet-nurse word

  • verb with object wet-nurse to act as a wet nurse to (an infant). 1
  • verb with object wet-nurse to give excessive care or attention to; treat as if helpless: The warden is accused of wet-nursing his prisoners. 1
  • noun wet-nurse a woman hired to suckle another's infant. 1
  • noun wet-nurse Alternative spelling of wet nurse. 0

Information block about the term

Origin of wet-nurse

First appearance:

before 1775
One of the 45% newest English words
First recorded in 1775-85

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Wet-nurse

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

wet-nurse popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 43% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data about 67% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

Synonyms for wet-nurse

verb wet-nurse

  • bottle-feed — If you bottle-feed a baby, you give it milk or a liquid like milk in a bottle rather than the baby sucking milk from its mother's breasts.
  • breast-feed — When a woman breast-feeds her baby, she feeds it with milk from her breasts, rather than from a bottle.
  • breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
  • dry-nurse — to act as a dry nurse to.
  • lactate — to produce milk.

See also

Matching words

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