subs. (old).—A guardian; a bear-leader, or tutor; a junior who instructs an ignorant chief in his duties.
1614. JONSON, Bartholomew Fair, I. Quar. Well, this DRY NURSE, I say still, is a delicate man.
c. 1640. [SHIRLEY], Captain Underwit, i., in Bullen’s Old Plays, ii. 322. Tho. But, Sir, you must have a DRY NURSE, as many Captaines have. Let me see: I can hire you an old limping decayed Sergeant at Brainford that taught the boyes.
1747. WALPOLE, Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 10 May (1833), vol. II., p. 292. This curious Minister … used to … walk in the Park with their daughters, and once went DRY-NURSE to Holland with them.
1852. F. E. SMEDLEY, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxv. Oh, some poor devil old Grant has picked up cheap as DRY-NURSE to his pet idiot … hall valet, half tutor.
1868. BREWER, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, s.v. When a superior officer does not know his duty, and is instructed in it by an inferior officer, he is said to be dry-nursed. The inferior nurses the superior as a DRY-NURSE rears an infant.
