nursery

noun

nurs·​ery ˈnər-s(ə-)rē 

plural nurseries

1

obsolete : attentive care : fosterage

2

a

: a child's bedroom

b

: a place where children are temporarily cared for in their parents' absence

c

: day nursery

3

a

: something that fosters, develops, or promotes

b

: a place in which persons are trained or educated

4

: an area where plants are grown for transplanting, for use as stocks for budding and grafting, or for sale

5

: a place where young animals grow or are cared for

Synonyms

• breeding ground
• hotbed
• hothouse
• nest
• nidus
• seedbed
• seminary

Examples of nursery in a Sentence

She still needs to decorate the nursery before the baby comes.

We get our flowers from a local nursery.

Recent Examples on the Web

Offshore is one of the world’s largest underwater nurseries that use mineral accretion technology, or MAT, a weak electrical current that causes limestone to collect on frames, which encourages coral to grow up to three times faster. —Betsy Andrews, Travel + Leisure, 30 Oct. 2024

Karen worked as a nurse, while Geoff was a fitter While Liam was growing up in Wolverhampton, Karen worked as a nursery nurse, and Geoff was a fitter, someone who puts together or installs machinery. —Rebecca Aizin, People.com, 17 Oct. 2024

Under the rising sun—around midnight in Manhattan—the destruction was revealed: sloppy gray craters pounded into the earth like graves, scorched nurseries, splintered cribs, clothes flapping like the flags of stillborn nations, and people half dead or fully dead, pallored in dust. —Joshua Cohen, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2024

The project has two nursery sites now: a seed bank near Paramount Ranch and the main nursery off Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas, where thousands of seeds have been planted in tiny flats and then repotted to grow large enough to be planted. —Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing nursery

• day nursery
• nursery rhyme
• nursery school
• nursery slope

Kids Definition

nursery

noun

nurs·​ery ˈnərs-(ə-)rē 

plural nurseries

1

a

: a child's bedroom

b

: a place where children are temporarily cared for in their parents' absence

2

: a place where plants (as trees or shrubs) are grown for transplanting, for use as stocks in grafting, or for sale

Medical Definition

nursery

noun

nurs·​ery ˈnərs-(ə-)rē 

plural nurseries

: the department of a hospital where newborn infants are cared for