Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To provide with food or other substances necessary for life and growth; feed.
- v. To foster the development of; promote: "Athens was an imperial city, nourished by the tribute of subjects” ( V. Gordon Childe).
- v. To keep alive; maintain: nourish a hope.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To nurse; suckle; bring up, as a child.
- To feed; supply (a living or organized body, animal or vegetable) with the material required to repair the waste accompanying the vital processes and to promote growth; supply with nutriment.
- To promote the growth or development of in any way; foster; cherish.
- To support; maintain, in a general sense; supply the means of support and increase to; encourage.
- To bring up; educate; instruct.
- To serve to promote growth; be nutritious.
- To gain nourishment.
Wiktionary
- n. A nurse.
- v. To feed and cause to grow; to supply with matter which increases bulk or supplies waste, and promotes health; to furnish with nutriment.
- v. To support; to maintain.
- v. To supply the means of support and increase to; to encourage; to foster; as, to nourish rebellion; to nourish the virtues.
- v. To cherish; to comfort.
- v. To educate; to instruct; to bring up; to nurture; to promote the growth of in attainments.
- v. To promote growth; to furnish nutriment.
- v. To gain nourishment.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To feed and cause to grow; to supply with matter which increases bulk or supplies waste, and promotes health; to furnish with nutriment.
- v. To support; to maintain.
- v. To supply the means of support and increase to; to encourage; to foster
- v. To cherish; to comfort.
- v. To educate; to instruct; to bring up; to nurture; to promote the growth of in attainments.
- v. To promote growth; to furnish nutriment.
- v. To gain nourishment.
- n. A nurse.
WordNet 3.0
- v. provide with nourishment
- v. give nourishment to
Etymologies
- Middle English norishen, from Old French norrir, norriss-, from Vulgar Latin *nutrīre, from Latin nūtrīre; see (s)nāu- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“nourish" - delivered an evening of high-energy dances interspersed with inspirational quotations.”
“But this mostly does not matter unless we 'nourish' their growth.”
“Finally, I kind of nourish the probably vain hope that Madonna is smart enough to never get into another serious relationship.”
“Yet, Europe's most famous secular liberal philosopher, Jurgen Habermas, now argues that since postmodern society is unable to generate its own values, it can only "nourish" itself from religious sources.”
“He hopes that the book may for many readers touch with new meaning those old weatherworn stones at Botany Bay, and make the personality of Laperouse live again for such as nourish an interest in”
“The grass or herbage of these downs is full of the sweetest and the most aromatic plants, such as nourish the sheep to a strange degree; and the sheep's dung, again, nourishes that herbage to a strange degree; so that the valleys are rendered extremely fruitful by the washing of the water in hasty showers from off these hills.”
From London to Land's End and Two Letters from the "Journey through England by a Gentleman"
“It should be considered though that these minerals may not necessarily be present to "nourish" cells, but are needed to act as "electrodes" in the humic electrolyte solution.”
“AmandaMarcotte This is my weirdness, but when someone writes about the politics of food, and the words "nourish" and "body" sit near each other, I gack. chickengreve I get myself all worked up about politics.”
Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7
“During those times, he would 'nourish' himself through eating fast foods, hotel restaurants, or other fine food establishments in various cities.”
“He's generalising and not providing any textual evidence that all the works he dismisses truly lack the ability to "nourish" the brain as well as the gut.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘nourish’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Life Verbs
Positive words
thrive, prosper, rejuvenate, dawn, anew, zest, flourish, nourish, rise, soar, expand, stretch and 6 more...
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Words that end in "-ish" but aren't adjectives
embellish, flourish, garnish, rubbish, nourish, admonish, punish, finish, blemish, abolish, accomplish, parish and 41 more...
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bepetersen's list
Words that I think should be banned from the English language
spittle, supper, crusty, moist, engorged, crotch, sinew, salve, suckle, mauve, damp, squat and 34 more...
oroboros Under Earth’s normal conditions: you can feed your body and you can feed your mind, but the latter, unlike the former, will never have that full, satisfied feeling; you have to find your own way(s) to tear your personal thinking operation away from the magnetic attraction & hold of humanity’s collective thinking --
only then will you experientially know what it is to actually nourish your mind...and enjoy it to the hilt.
--Jan Cox
Jun 17, 2007