foster

1. not comparableProviding parental care to children not related to oneself.

   foster parents

2. not comparableReceiving such care.

   a foster child

3. not comparableRelated by such care.

   We are a foster family.

plural fosters

1. countableinformalA foster parent.

   Some fosters end up adopting.

2. uncountableThe care given to another; guardianship.

present singular third person fosters · participle present fostering · participle past fostered · past fostered

1. transitiveTo nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.

   Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

   c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: As It was Plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Sussex Their Seruants (the First Quarto), London: Printed by Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, at the little North doore of Paules at the signe of the Gunne, published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]

2. transitiveTo promote the development of something; to cultivate and grow a thing.

   Our company fosters an appreciation for the arts.

   3 more examples

   ⁠A flower beat with rain and wind, Which once she foster’d up with care

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 10

   And Time, which is the hound of Sish, devoured all things; and Sish sent up the ivy and fostered weeds, and dust fell from the hand of Sish and covered stately things.

   1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC

   Grimsby doesn't ever wound quite as devastatingly as Borat or Brüno, but it's a vital, lavish, venomously profane two fingers up at Benefits Street pity porn and the social division it fosters.

   2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ‘Sacha Baron Cohen’s vital, venomous action movie’”, in The Daily Telegraph (London)

3. transitiveTo nurse or cherish something.
4. intransitiveobsoleteTo be nurtured or trained up together.

   There Florimell, in her first ages flowre, And passing beautie did eftsoones reveale, Was fostered by those Graces

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

plural fosters

1. obsoleteA forester.

   A griesly Foster forth did rush.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

plural Fosters

1. countableuncountableAn English surname originating as an occupation, variant of Forster.

   The Mets got that four-run cushion in the seventh when George Foster stepped in as a pinch-hitter and hit a two-run homer for the 5-1 final.

   1983 June 27, Kevin Dupont, “METS GAIN SPLIT; STAUB TIES MARK”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 24 May 2015

2. countableuncountableA male given name transferred from the surname.
3. A placename
   1. countableuncountableA former settlement in San Diego County, California.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Warren County, Indiana.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Bracken County, Kentucky.
   4. countableuncountableA township and unincorporated community therein, in Big Stone County, Minnesota.
   5. countableuncountableA village in Bates County, Missouri; named for Ohio governor Charles Foster.
   6. countableuncountableA village in Pierce County, Nebraska; named for George Foster, original owner of town's site.
   7. countableuncountableA town in Garvin County, Oklahoma.
   8. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community partly in Sweet Home, Linn County, Oregon.
   9. countableuncountableA town in Providence County, Rhode Island; named for Rhode Island statesman Theodore Foster.
   10. countableuncountableA town in Clark County, Wisconsin.
   11. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in the town of Clear Creek, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin.
   12. countableuncountableA number of other townships, including in Illinois (2), Michigan, Minnesota (1 more), Pennsylvania (3), and South Dakota, listed under Foster Township.
   13. countableuncountableA village in the town of Brome Lake, Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality, southern Quebec, Canada.
   14. countableuncountableA town in South Gippsland Shire, south-east Victoria, Australia.
   15. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Foster County.