Verb

To treat with tenderness and affection; to nurture with care; to protect and aid.

*, chapter=12

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished .}}

To hold dear; to embrace with interest; to indulge; to encourage; to foster; to promote; as, to cherish religious principle.

(obsolete) To cheer, gladden.

* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vi:

Her merry fit she freshly gan to reare, / And did of ioy and iollitie deuize, / Her selfe to cherish , and her guest to cheare [...].