foster
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɒstə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɔstɚ/
- (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ˈfɑstɚ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒstə(ɹ)
Etymology 1Edit
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”).
AdjectiveEdit
foster (not comparable)
- Providing parental care to children not related to oneself.
- foster parents
- Receiving such care.
- a foster child
- Related by such care.
- We are a foster family.
TranslationsEdit
NounEdit
foster (countable and uncountable, plural fosters)
- (countable, informal) A foster parent.
- Some fosters end up adopting.
- (uncountable) The care given to another; guardianship.
VerbEdit
foster (third-person singular simple present fosters, present participle fostering, simple past and past participle fostered)
- (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.
- (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.
- (transitive) To nurse or cherish something.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To be nurtured or trained up together.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
- There Florimell, in her first ages flowre,
And passing beautie did eftsoones reveale,
Was fostered by those Graces
Usage notesEdit
Modern English makes a distinction between fostering (which is implied to be temporary or informal) and adopting (which is permanent and makes the child legally recognized as part of the family). In older usage the two terms were more interchangeable.
AntonymsEdit
- (cultivate and grow): hinder
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
foster (plural fosters)
- (obsolete) A forester.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
- A griesly Foster forth did rush.
AnagramsEdit
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse fóstr (“rear, raise”), from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą.
NounEdit
foster n (singular definite fostret or fosteret, plural indefinite fostre)
InflectionEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Inherited from Old English fōster, from Proto-West Germanic *fōstr, from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą; reinforced by Old English fōstre (“fosterer”). The vocalism is due to regular shortening before a three-consonant cluster (in the Old English oblique stem fōstr-).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
foster (plural *fostres)
- A child; one of one's progeny.
- (chiefly Early Middle English) Food or other care.
- (rare) A foster child or adopted child.
- (rare) A foster parent or adoptee.
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “foster, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “forstē̆r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
foster
- Alternative form of forester
Etymology 3Edit
VerbEdit
foster
- Alternative form of fostren
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
foster n (definite singular fosteret or fostret, indefinite plural foster or fostre, definite plural fostra or fostrene)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “foster” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
foster n (definite singular fosteret, indefinite plural foster, definite plural fostera)
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “foster” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
fōster n
- Alternative form of fōstor
DeclensionEdit
SwedishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse fóstr (“rear, raise”), from Proto-Germanic *fōstrą.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
foster n
DeclensionEdit
| Declension of foster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | foster | fostret | foster | fostren |
| Genitive | fosters | fostrets | fosters | fostrens |