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Attend vs Nurse - What's the difference?

attend | nurse |

As verbs the difference between attend and nurse

is that attend is ("to kindle") or attend can be (archaic|transitive) to listen to (something or someone); to pay attention to; regard; heed while nurse is to breast feed.

As a noun nurse is

(archaic) a wet-nurse.

attend

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) attenden, atenden, from (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)
  • ("to kindle").
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) attenden, atenden, from (etyl) ; see tend and compare attempt.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To listen to (something or someone); to pay attention to; regard; heed.
  • * Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)
  • The diligent pilot in a dangerous tempest doth not attend the unskilful words of the passenger.
  • (archaic) To listen ((to), (unto)).
  • * , chapter=15
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
  • To wait upon as a servant etc.; to accompany to assist (someone).
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • The fifth had charge sick persons to attend .
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Attends the emperor in his royal court.
  • * (1800-1859)
  • With a sore heart and a gloomy brow, he prepared to attend William thither.
  • (senseid)To be present at (an event or place) in order to take part in some action or proceedings.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.}}
  • * 1994 , (Nelson Mandela), (Long Walk to Freedom) , Abacus 2010, p. 20:
  • I attended a one-room school next door to the palace and studied English, Xhosa, history and geography.
  • To be present with; to accompany; to be united or consequent to.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • What cares must then attend the toiling swain.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
  • , chapter=5, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.
  • To wait for; to await; to remain, abide, or be in store for.
  • * (John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • the state that attends all men after this
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Three days I promised to attend my doom.
    Synonyms
    * (listen to) behear

    nurse

    English

    (wikipedia nurse)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A wet-nurse.
  • A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s young.
  • They hired a nurse to care for their young boy
  • A person trained to provide care for the sick.
  • The nurse made her rounds through the hospital ward
  • One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, fosters, or the like.
  • * Burke
  • the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise
  • (nautical) A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.
  • A larva of certain trematodes, which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction.
  • A nurse shark.
  • Usage notes

    * Some speakers consider nurses (medical workers) to be female by default, and thus use "male nurse" to refer to a man doing the same job.

    Verb

    (nurs)
  • to breast feed
  • She believes that nursing her baby will make him strong and healthy .
  • to care for the sick
  • She nursed him back to health.
  • to treat kindly and with extra care
  • She nursed the rosebush and that season it bloomed.
  • to drink slowly
  • to foster, to nourish
  • to hold closely to one's chest
  • Would you like to nurse the puppy?
  • to strike (billiard balls) gently, so as to keep them in good position during a series of shots
  • * 1866 , United States. Congress. Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Supplemental report of the Joint Committee
  • It is to our interest to let Lee and Johnston come together, just as a billiard-player would nurse the balls when he has them in a nice place.

    Usage notes

    In sense “to drink slowly”, generally negative and particularly used for someone at a bar, suggesting they either cannot afford to buy another drink or are too miserly to do so. By contrast, sip is more neutral.

    Synonyms

    * (drink slowly) sip, see also

    Derived terms

    * nurse practitioner * wet nurse, wet-nurse

    See also

    * matron * sister

    Anagrams

    * (l), (l), (l)