nūtrix (old orthogr. notrix, acc. to Quint. 1, 4, 16), īcis, f. nutrio, a wet-nurse, nurse. Lit.: omnia minima mansa, ut nutrices infantibus pueris, in os inserant, Cic. de Or. 2, 39, 162: cum lacte nutricis errorem suxisse, id. Tusc. 3, 1, 2: sidera nutricem nutricis fertile cornu Fecit, Ov. F. 5, 127; Verg. A. 4, 632; 5, 645: Jubae tellus leonum Arida nutrix, Hor. C. 1, 22, 15: gallina nutrix, a hen that has chickens, Col. 8, 11, 13: nutricis tolerare labores, Juv. 6, 593: mater nutrix, a mother that suckles her own infant, Gell. 12, 1, 5; Inscr. Fabr. p. 188, n. 428: est enim illa (oratio) quasi nutrix ejus oratoris, quem informare volumus, Cic. Or. 11, 37: nutricis pallium (prov. of any thing soiled, dirty), Plaut. Bacch. 3, 3, 30.

— Transf. She who nourishes or maintains a thing: virgines perpetui nutrices et conservatrices ignis, Arn. 4, 151.

— Nutrices, the breasts, Cat. 64, 18.

— A piece of ground in which shoots of trees are planted in order to be set out again, a nursery garden, Plin. 17, 10, 12, § 66.

— The land that supports a family, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 111.

— Trop., a nurse: nostramne, ere, vis nutricem, quae nos educat, Abalienare a nobis, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 111: curarum maxima nutrix Nox, Ov. M. 8, 81: Sicilia nutrix plebis Romanae, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 2, § 5: nutrix Discordia belli, Claud. in Ruf. 1, 30.