[OE. fóster-, fóstormódor, f. FOSTER sb.1 Cf. ON. fóstrmóðir. (OE. had also féstermódor; cf. féstre = FOSTER sb.2).] A woman who nurses and brings up another’s child: a. as an adoptive mother; b. in the capacity of a nurse.
a. 1000[?]. Martyrol. (1894), 154. Þa cwæð þæs cnihtes fostormodor to þam fæder: ȝif [etc.].
c. 1205. Lay., 25899. Ich wes hire uoster-moder.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3347 (Cott).
| Hir foster moder wit hir sco ledd | |
| And rade til þai come ner þe stedd. |
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, II. 270.
| His fostyr modyr, lowed him our the laiff, | |
| Did mylk to warme, his liff giff scho mycht saiff. |
1634. M. Sandys, Prudence, x. 127–8. That Childe, that receiveth nutriment from his Foster Mother, will goe neere to Sympathize with her in condition.
a. 1735. Arbuthnot, Misc. Wks. (1751), I. 196. The young Gentleman told his Foster-Mother in her own Language, that great Care should be taken both of ther Cubs and Nursling.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 582. The Duke of Maine … was loved by Lewis with the love of a father, by Madame de Maintenon with the not less tender love of a foster mother.
1894. Daily News, 12 March, 6/5. Each home … will be in charge of a foster-father and foster-mother.
fig. 1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 80. Obedience … is the nouryce or fostermother of all vertues.
1637. Ld. Carey, Romulus & Tarquin, 201. Liberty belongs to equals, flattery to inferiours, the one is the Common-wealths Nurse, the other the Tyrants foster-mother.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., VI. xxxiii. 129. The British monarchy, which from the days of William of Orange had been the representative of toleration and liberty, put forth its strength in behalf of unjust authority; while France became the foster-mother of republicanism.
