Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Nursery

Nursery , noun

[Compare French nourricerie.]

1.
The act of nursing. [Obsolete]
Her kind nursery. — Shakespeare
2.
The place where nursing is carried on
(a)
The place, or apartment, in a house, appropriated to the care of children.
(b)
A place where young of any species, plant or animal, are nourished preparatory to transfer elsewhere;
a place where young trees, shrubs, vines, etc., are propagated for the purpose of transplanting; a plantation of young trees.
(c)
The place where anything is fostered and growth promoted.
Fair Padua, nursery of arts. — Shakespeare
Christian families are the nurseries of the church on earth, as she is the nursery of the church in heaven. — J. M. Mason
(d)
That which forms and educates; as, commerce is the nursery of seamen.
3.
That which is nursed. [Rare] — Milton