Also 6 cherysshemente. [f. CHERISH v. + -MENT.]
† 1. pl. Ways of cherishing, indulgences. Obs.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (1531), 28. As in clothynge, meates, drynkes, vayne trifyls or other cherysshements, to the whiche we be full prone & redy to fall.
2. The process or fact of cherishing; the bestowal of affectionate care or fostering tenderness.
1561. T. N[orton], Calvin’s Instit., II. (1634) 194. Sith wee are too much inclined to hypocrisie, this cherishment thereof ought not to have beene added to flatter our slothfull consciences.
1591. Spenser, Tears Muses, 573. With rich bountie and deare cherishment.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 345. The cherishments and blandishments that God bestowes upon them.
1804. H. J. Colebrooke, Husbandry Bengal (1806), 130. The relation of master and slave appears to impose the duty of protection and cherishment on the master.
1823. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 370. The cherishment of the people was our principle, the fear and distrust of them, that of the other party.
† b. concr. Nourishment, sustenance. Obs.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T. (1613), 73. They that spoyled my house, and left me no kind of cherishment for me and my son.
1689. G. Harvey, Curing Dis. by Expect., vii. 57. Defect of cherishment.
