wet nurse
noun, verb
Forms wet nurses wet nursing wet nursed wet-nurse wetnurse
- noun A woman hired to suckle and care for another woman's child.
- noun (figuratively, by extension) Someone who treats someone else with excessive care.
- verb (transitive) To act as a wet nurse (in either sense).
Synonyms
Webster’s 1913
- A nurse who suckles a child, especially the child of another woman. Cf. Dry nurse.
- A plate the film of which retains its sensitiveness only while wet. The film used in such plates is of collodion impregnated with bromides and iodides. Before exposure the plate is immersed in a solution of silver nitrate, and immediately after exposure it is developed and fixed.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “wet nurse”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details