Definition

1. Verb:
   • To take care of an infant without breastfeeding it: To provide all the necessary care, feeding (with a bottle or other food), and attention to a baby, but not by nursing it from one's own breast.

Usage

• The verb "dry-nurse" is used to describe the specific act of caring for an infant in a manner that excludes breastfeeding. It is a transitive verb, typically followed by a direct object (the infant).
• It is a somewhat dated or formal term, often used in historical or specific caregiving contexts to distinguish from "wet-nursing" (breastfeeding another's child).

Examples

• Verb:
  • In the 19th century, a mother who could not produce milk might hire a woman to dry-nurse her baby with a bottle.
  • The nanny was employed not to wet-nurse but to dry-nurse the infant, preparing formula feeds every few hours.

Advanced Usage

• The term can be used figuratively to describe providing excessive care or coddling to someone (often an adult) as if they were a helpless infant.
  • The manager needs to stop dry-nursing the new interns; they must learn to solve problems independently.

Variants and Related Words

• Dry nurse (noun): A person, typically a woman, employed to care for an infant without breastfeeding it.
  • They hired a dry nurse for the newborn.
• Wet-nurse (verb/noun): To breastfeed another's infant; a woman who does so.
• Nanny (noun): A person employed to care for children in a household.
• Caregiver (noun): A general term for someone who provides care.

Synonyms

• Bottle-feed: To feed an infant with a bottle. (This is a more common and specific term for the feeding aspect of dry-nursing.)
• Care for: A general term for looking after someone.

Notes

• "Dry-nurse" is a compound word. The core term being explained is the verb "dry-nurse." The noun form "dry nurse" (often spelled with a space or hyphen) is a related variant.
• The term explicitly contrasts with "wet-nurse," highlighting the method of feeding (or lack of breastfeeding) as the defining characteristic.

Verb

1. take care of an infant without breastfeeding it