nursery
- Noun:
- A room or area in a house set apart for the use and care of young children, especially infants and toddlers. This is the most common meaning, referring to a child's bedroom or a dedicated play and care space.
- A place where young plants and trees are grown for sale or for later transplanting. This meaning refers to a commercial establishment or a specialized area in a garden.
- (Figurative) A place or situation that fosters the early development or growth of something. This extended meaning describes an environment that nurtures the beginning stages of a person, idea, or trend.
Noun (Child's Room):
- We painted the nursery a soft yellow before the baby was born.
- The children's toys were neatly stored in the nursery.
Noun (Plant Establishment):
- We bought these rose bushes from a local nursery.
- He works at a tree nursery, propagating saplings.
Noun (Figurative Use):
- That university is a nursery for future political leaders.
- The artist's studio became a nursery for new and radical ideas.
"Nursery education": Refers to early childhood education, typically for children between three and five years old.
- The government is investing more in nursery education.
"Nursery slope": (British English) A gentle slope at a ski resort, used by beginners for practice.
- She spent the morning on the nursery slope getting used to her skis.
"Nursery stock": The collective term for young plants, trees, and shrubs available for sale at a plant nursery.
- The garden center has a wide selection of nursery stock this spring.
Nurseryman/Nurserywoman (n): A person who owns or works in a plant nursery.
- The nurserywoman gave us excellent advice on soil conditions.
Nurserymaid (n, archaic): A maid employed to take care of children in a household.
Nursery rhyme (n): A traditional poem or song for young children.
- "Humpty Dumpty" is a famous nursery rhyme.
- For a child's room: Child's room, baby's room.
- For a plant establishment: Greenhouse (specifically for protected cultivation), garden center, propagator.
- For a nurturing place: Breeding ground, hotbed, cradle, training ground.
"Nursery school": A school for children between the ages of about three and five.
- Her daughter will start nursery school in the fall.
"Nursery nurse": (British English) A person trained to care for young children, especially in a nursery school or crèche.
- "The nursery of vice/virtue": A phrase used to describe a place considered to be the origin or breeding ground for bad or good qualities.
- The overcrowded city was described by some as a nursery of vice.
- a building with glass walls and roof; for the cultivation and exhibition of plants under controlled conditions
- a child's room for a baby