Definition

Verb: * To feed a baby or young animal directly from the breast or mammary gland. This action involves the infant drawing milk from the mother or a nursing female.

Usage

• This verb phrase is used to describe the specific act of breastfeeding. It is a formal or literary alternative to more common terms like "breastfeed" or "nurse."
• It is typically used in the construction "give suck to [someone/something]."

Examples

• The mother would give suck to her newborn several times a day.
• In many mammalian species, the female will give suck to her offspring until they are weaned.
• Historical texts often note that wet nurses were employed to give suck to the children of nobility.

Advanced Usage

• The phrase can be used in a passive construction, though this is less common.
  • The infant was given suck by its mother.

Variants and Related Words

• Suckle (verb): A more common single-word synonym meaning to feed from the breast or to cause to feed from the breast.
  • The doe suckled her fawn.
• Nurse (verb): A common, less formal term meaning to feed a baby from the breast.
  • She nurses her baby on demand.
• Breastfeed (verb): The standard modern term for the same action.
  • The hospital encourages mothers to breastfeed.
• Wet-nurse (noun): A woman who breastfeeds another's child.
• Lactate (verb): To produce milk. This refers to the mother's biological function, not the act of feeding the child.

Synonyms

• Breastfeed
• Nurse
• Suckle
• Lactate (specifically for milk production, not the act of feeding)

Antonyms

• Bottle-feed
• Wean

Related Phrases

• Give the breast: A very direct and somewhat archaic phrase with the same meaning.
• At the breast: A phrase describing the state of an infant who is feeding or about to feed.
  • The baby is at the breast.

Verb

1. give suck to
   • The wetnurse suckled the infant
   • You cannot nurse your baby in public in some places