nurse
Someone whose job is to look after people who are ill or injured, usually in a hospital
This hospital has a very nice nurse.
Theme, CEFR level & Tags
Oxford Essential Dictionary
noun
a person whose job is to look after people who are sick or hurt:
My sister works as a nurse in a hospital.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
nurse
I. nurse1 S2 W3 /nɜːs $ nɜːrs/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[Word Family: noun: ↑nurse, ↑nursery, ↑nursing; verb: ↑nurse]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: nurice, from Latin nutricius; ⇨ ↑nutritious]
1. someone whose job is to look after people who are ill or injured, usually in a hospital:
The nurse is coming to give you an injection.
The school nurse sent Sara home.
a male nurse
a senior nurse
a student nurse (=someone who is learning to be a nurse)
a psychiatric nurse (=a nurse for people who are mentally ill)
a community nurse ⇨ ↑district nurse, ↑staff nurse
2. old-fashioned a woman employed to look after a young child SYN nanny
⇨ ↑nursery nurse, ↑wet nurse
THESAURUS
▪ take care of somebody (also look after somebody especially British English) to make sure a child or an old or sick person is safe and has the things they need: I have to look after my little brother. | Taking care of a baby is hard work. | She is taking care of her grandmother while her grandfather is in hospital.
▪ care for somebody to take care of someone. Care for somebody is less common and more formal than take care of/look after somebody: He was cared for by a team of nurses. | Caring for an elderly relative can be very rewarding.
▪ nurse to look after someone who is ill: He nursed his wife through a long illness. | The monks nursed him back to health (=looked after him until he was well again).
▪ babysit to look after children in the evening while their parents go out somewhere: I’ll ask Jane to babysit on Wednesday night. | He used to babysit for Mary when she worked nights.
▪ mind British English to look after a child while their parents are not there, especially for a short time: Will you mind the baby while I go to the shop?
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
nurse
nurse [nurse nurses nursed nursing] noun, verb [nɜːs] [nɜːrs]
noun
1. a person whose job is to take care of sick or injured people, usually in a hospital
• a qualified/registered nurse
• student nurses
• a male nurse
• a dental nurse (= one who helps a dentist)
• a psychiatric nurse (= one who works in a hospital for people with mental illnesses)
• Nurse Bennett
• Nurse, come quickly!
see also charge nurse, district nurse, practical nurse, registered nurse, staff nurse
2. (also nurse·maid) (old-fashioned) (in the past) a woman or girl whose job was to take care of babies or small children in their own homes
see also nursery nurse, wet nurse
Word Origin:
late Middle English: contraction of earlier nourice, from Old French, from late Latin nutricia, feminine of Latin nutricius ‘(person) that nourishes’, from nutrix, nutric- ‘nurse’, from nutrire ‘nourish’. The verb was originally a contraction of nourish, altered under the influence of the noun.
Example Bank:
• the children's staff nurse
• a dental nurse
• a psychiatric nurse
• a qualified/registered nurse
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
nurse / nɜs / / nɝs / noun [ C ]
A2 (the title given to) a person whose job is to care for people who are ill or injured, especially in a hospital:
He worked as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital.
Nurse Millard will be with you shortly.
[ as form of address ] Thank you, Nurse.
old-fashioned a woman employed to take care of a young child or children
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
nurse
/nɜ:(r)s/
(nurses, nursing, nursed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A nurse is a person whose job is to care for people who are ill.
She had spent 29 years as a nurse...
Patients were dying because of an acute shortage of nurses.
N-COUNT; N-TITLE; N-VOC
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
1nurse /ˈnɚs/ noun, pl nurs·es [count]
1 : a person who is trained to care for sick or injured people and who usually works in a hospital or doctor's office
• The nurse will take your blood pressure before the doctor sees you.
• Nurse, may I have some water?
- see also charge nurse, licensed practical nurse, registered nurse
2 old-fashioned : a woman who is paid to take care of a young child usually in the child's home
