nurse, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nurse v.

1. to cheat or swindle.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1873		Sl. Dict.

2. for one omnibus to follow a rival closely so as to poach its passengers.

1858		Morning Chronicle 8 Mar. n.p.: The cause of the delay was that defendant was waiting to nurse one of their omnibuses [F&H].
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 69: Two omnibuses are placed on the road to nurse, or oppose each opposition ‘buss’, one before, the other behind.
1863		The Dean of Canterbury in Good Words 197: Many words are by rule hitched off with two commas; one before and one behind; nursed, as the Omnibus Company would call it [F&H].
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 6: Nurse - Two ‘buses Nurse the opposition, one in front the other following.
1884		Echo 7 May 1/4: Another phenomenal witness, a ‘bus’ conductor, did not even know what nursing rivals meant [F&H].
1900		Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 4/6: A case of alleged nursing by rival omnibuses occupied a large part of the afternoon sitting [F&H].

at nurse

for a person to be in the hands of (dishonest) trustees.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: An estate in the hands of trustees for the payment of debts, is also said to be at nurse.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

nurse the iron baby (v.)

(UK Und.) to be in prison.

1895

J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 169: For a time Mary Ann had to be content, as prisoners say, with ‘nursing the iron baby’.