foster

Etymology

From Middle English foster, from Old English fōstor (“food, sustenance”), from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą (“nurishment, food”). Cognate with Middle Dutch voester (“nursemaid”), Middle Low German vôster (“food”), Old Norse fóstr (“nurturing, education, alimony, child support”), Danish foster (“fetus”), Swedish foster (“fetus”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒstə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔstɚ/, /ˈfɑstɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒstə(ɹ)

Adjective

foster (not comparable)

1. Providing parental care to unrelated children.

   Foster parents.

2. Receiving such care.

   Foster child.

3. Related by such care.

   We are a foster family.

Noun

foster (countable and uncountable, plural fosters)

1. (countable, informal) A foster parent.

   Some fosters end up adopting.

2. (countable, obsolete) A forester
3. (uncountable) The care given to another; guardianship

Verb

foster (third-person singular simple present fosters, present participle fostering, simple past and past participle fostered)

1. (transitive) To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.
   • c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: As It was Plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Sussex Their Seruants (the First Quarto), London: Printed by Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, at the little North doore of Paules at the signe of the Gunne, published 1594, OCLC 222241046, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

2. (transitive) To cultivate and grow something.

   Our company fosters an appreciation for the arts.

   • 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ‘Sacha Baron Cohen’s vital, venomous action movie’”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):

     Grimsby doesn't ever wound quite as devastatingly as Borat or Brüno, but it's a vital, lavish, venomously profane two fingers up at Benefits Street pity porn and the social division it fosters.

3. (transitive) To nurse or cherish something.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be nurtured or trained up together.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Anagrams

• Forest, Forets, Fortes, fetors, forest, forset, fortes, fortés, froste, softer

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr (“rear, raise”)

Noun

foster n (singular definite fostret or fosteret, plural indefinite fostre)

1. fetus

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr

Noun

foster n (definite singular fosteret or fostret, indefinite plural foster or fostre, definite plural fostra or fostrene)

1. (biology) a fetus or foetus

References

• “foster” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr

Noun

foster n (definite singular fosteret, indefinite plural foster, definite plural fostera)

1. (biology) a fetus or foetus

References

• “foster” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From Old Norse fóstr (“rear, raise”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʊstɛr/

Noun

foster n

1. fetus