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foster

Pronunciation: /ˈfɒstə/

The English word “foster” has 10 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Providing parental care to children not related to oneself.
  2. Receiving such care.
  3. Related by such care.

noun

  1. A foster parent.
  2. The care given to another; guardianship.
  3. A forester.

verb

  1. To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.
  2. To promote the development of something; to cultivate and grow a thing.
  3. To nurse or cherish something.
  4. To be nurtured or trained up together.

Etymology

From Middle English foster, from Old English fōstor (“food, sustenance”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōstr, from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą (“nourishment, 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”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.