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| fos·ter [ fáwstər, fóstər ] |
transitive verb (past and past participle fos·tered, present participle fos·ter·ing, 3rd person present singular fos·ters) |
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| Definition: |
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1. nurture child: to provide a child with care and upbringing
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2. develop something: to encourage the development of something
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3. keep alive feeling or thought: to keep a feeling or thought alive
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adjective |
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| Definition: |
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providing or receiving parental care: giving or receiving a home and parental care and upbringing, usually on a short-term basis, although unrelated by blood or adoption. Foster care is provided for children whose natural parents are dead, absent, or unfit or unable to look after them.
  a foster child
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| [ Old English fostrian "nourish, raise a child" < foster "food" < Germanic] |
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| fos·ter·er noun |
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