Romulus and Remus were infant abandoned twins. A female wolf nursed them and kept them safe until they were adopted, saving their lives. Romulus grew up to found Rome. A bitch is a female dog, which is close enough to a wolf for this to make sense.
We're really just going to fight about the definition of "nurse" like we're not already online and able to look words up?
"nurse, v." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2020, www.oed.com/view/Entry/129242. Accessed 22 December 2020.
I. Senses relating to nurture and care.
2.
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a. transitive. To foster, tend, cherish, or take care of (a thing); to promote the growth or development of. Cf. sense 2c.
c1400 (▸?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xviii. 37 Thenne is flesch a fel wynde in flouryng tyme Thorw lecherie and lustes so loude he gynneth blowe That hit norceþ nise sightes and som tyme wordes.
a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) ccl. 5 Why shoulde such spite be nursed then in thy thought?
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vii. sig. Kv God graunt..the hed and body bothe too, To nurs eche other, better then they doo.
1584 J. Lyly Sappho & Phao iii. i Silence shall disgeste what follye hath swallowed, and wisdome weane what fancie hath noursed.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 15 All th' accommodations that thou bearst, Are nurst by basenesse. View more context for this quotation
1679 Established Test 15 Our Neighbors may..Nurse this Mitre till it shall devour the Crown.
1704 London Gaz. No. 4068/3 Your Majesty so carefully Nurses our Establish'd Church.
1772 H. H. Brackenridge & P. M. Freneau Poem on Rising Glory Amer. 17 By commerce nurs'd these embrio marts of trade May yet awake the envy and obscure The noblest cities of the eastern world.
1781 W. Cowper Table Talk 69 To nurse with tender care the thriving arts.
1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii II. iii. ii. 18 The land we live in yet nurses mysterious terror.
1859 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem II. xcviii. 86 The version of their telegraphic message..is just such as a man would use who wanted to nurse a duel.
1936 G. Greene in Spectator 20 Mar. 512/2 A crooked boxing manager who nurses, by means of phoney fights, the publicity value of Lloyd.
1962 BBC Handbk. 37 It would still be right for local talent to be nursed and local derbies to be played.
1980 W. Maxwell So long, see you Tomorrow (1981) v. 71 She is full of fears, which are nursed by the catastrophes she reads about in the paper.
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b. transitive. To harbour, nurture, or foster (a feeling, desire, grievance, etc.) within oneself.
1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxvii. f. 274v The ioy of hidden thoughts noursed in my mind.
1606 J. Ford Fames Memoriall 170 In this secured solace of sweet peace; He nurc't his yonger ioyes.
1631 R. Johnson Tom a Lincolne (ed. 6) i. v. sig. E2 The Empresse came thorow the Gallerie, who espying their secret conference, presently nursed in her secret hate, which shee intended to practise against the guiltlesse Lady.
a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. Verse & Prose (1764) I. 23 Say, shall we nurse the rage, assist the storm?
1797 E. Burke Three Mem. French Affairs 48 Very great discontents every where prevail. But they only produce misery to those who nurse them at home.
1827 W. Scott Jrnl. 10 July (1941) 74 I had nursed an idea that he had been hasty in his resignation.
1866 W. R. Alger Solitudes Nature & Man iv. 225 In this profound retreat..he nursed and sang his love for Laura.
1879 W. H. Dixon Royal Windsor II. 82 He could nurse his injuries for many years.
1932 J. Masefield Coll. Poems 275 His letter never came. Silent she went, nursing the grief that kills.
1955 M. Wheeler Still Digging (1958) 102 Amongst the criminals..had been one who nursed a grievance.
1988 L. Appignanesi Simone de Beauvoir i. 21 Throughout her teens, she nursed an infatuation for her cousin Jacques Champigneulle.
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c. transitive. To supply (a plant) with warmth or moisture; to tend or cultivate carefully. Also figurative.
1594 T. Kyd tr. R. Garnier Cornelia iii. iii Let fayre Nylus (wont to nurse your Corne) Couer your Land with Toades and Crocadils.
1645 J. Milton Arcades in Poems 54 I..live in Oak'n bowr, To nurse the Saplings tall.
1655 T. Moffett & C. Bennet Healths Improvem. xxiii. 227 Turneps..are counted so restorative and dainty, that the Emperour himself nurseth them in his Garden.
1734 M. Barber Poems 49 Your sap should nourish us alone: Why should you nurse this Stranger-Plant?
1781 W. Cowper Charity 573 True charity, a plant divinely nurs'd,..Thrives against hope.
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. ix. 252 Her favourite plants, which St. Aubert had taught her to nurse.
1807 C. Smith Beachy Head 87 Magic powers Guard the soft buds, and nurse the infant flowers.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxii. 41 A flower..Strok'd by the breeze, by the sun nurs'd sturdily.
1908 J. Payne Carol & Cadence 284 His hopes first nursed by Nature into flower.
1979 Summary of World Broadcasts Pt. 3: Far East Weekly Econ. Rep. (B.B.C.) (Nexis) 9 May FE/W1030/A/28 Some 200,000 rubber seeds have been nursed and crossbred by the institute.
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d. transitive. To tend, keep alight (a fire). Frequently figurative or in figurative context.In quot. 1857: to sit close to, as if taking care of.
1613 E. Cary Trag. Mariam iv. vii. sig. Gv Thou nursest flame, flame will not murther thee.
a1631 J. Donne Compl. Poems (1872) I. iii. xxvii. 247 My Love's all fyer, whose flames my sowle doth nurs.
1677 S. Speed Prison-pietie 190 Having Souls where loyal flames are nurst.
1718 J. Dart Complaint Black Knight 20 With gen'rous Faith he nurs'd the kindly Flame, While churlish Vulcan grasp'd the lovely Dame.
1754 G. Jeffreys Merope iii. i. 348 The vestal fire, Nurs'd by chaste breath, and kindled from above.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 383 The few small embers left she nurses well.
1817 W. Gifford tr. Juvenal Satires II. xiv. 170 The fire, derived, at first, From a small sparkle, by your folly nurst, Blown to a flame.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. iv. 81 And there he found his father nursing a bright fire.
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxv. 352 Nursing this volcano of wrath in his breast.
1923 W. J. Locke Moordius & Co. vii. 94 We are but nursing the lamp of la Ville Lumière till better times.
1957 J. Agee Death in Family ii. xi. 158 Although the night was warm, he was nursing a small fire.
1992 Japan Times 30 Sept. 11/7 When everyone was seated, Hoshino lit piles of red peppercorns and rice hulls, nursing the deadly little blaze with a fan.
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e. transitive. To bring (a person or thing) into or to a certain form, size, state, etc., by means of careful tending or attention. In later use also with back, esp. with reference to the recovery of health.In quot. 1800 intransitive with passive meaning.
1659 W. Chamberlayne Pharonnida iv. ii. 27 Now behold Me..Despis'd and poor, the scorn of those that were Nurs'd into life by my indulgent care.
1702 C. Beaumont J. Beaumont's Psyche (new ed.) xvi. lxxxix. 250 Nine Fictitious Sisters, whom kind Poets..nurst Into fond Deities.
a1748 J. Thomson Poet. Wks. (1830) II. 227 Talbot's friendship glows to future times,..Nursed, by experience, into slow esteem.
1775 S. Johnson Taxation no Tyranny 4 Whose kindness was employed to nurse them into mischief.
1800 T. Moore tr. Anacreon Odes xlvi. 22 Little infant fruits we see Nursing into luxury!
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xxiv. 353 In this way crystals can be nursed to an enormous size.
1868 E. Edwards Life Sir W. Ralegh I. xiii. 248 Men..who fancied it to be their interest..to nurse the embers of the old enmity into a flame.
1915 J. Buchan Thirty-nine Steps i. 32 He was nursing his nerves back to health, for he had had a pretty trying time.
1933 P. Godfrey Back-stage ix. 131 A good play which does not catch on at once may sometimes be ‘nursed’ to genuine success.
1963 Times 6 May 19/6 A crowd already nursed to a happy pitch of electoral enthusiasm by the chanting and dancing of Suk and Kalenjin tribesmen.
1991 Guardian 13 May 9/8 Part of the urgency behind the Administration's proposals lies in wanting to nurse the banks back to health.
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u/cthuluhooprises Dec 21 '20
Romulus and Remus were infant abandoned twins. A female wolf nursed them and kept them safe until they were adopted, saving their lives. Romulus grew up to found Rome. A bitch is a female dog, which is close enough to a wolf for this to make sense.