/ ˈfɒstə(r); NAmE ˈfɔːs-; ˈfɑːs-/ verb , adjective
■ verb
1.
[ vn ] to encourage sth to develop
SYN encourage , promote :
The club's aim is to foster better relations within the community.
2.
( especially BrE ) to take another person's child into your home for a period of time, without becoming his or her legal parents :
[ vn ]
They have fostered over 60 children during the past ten years.
[ v ]
We couldn't adopt a child, so we decided to foster.
—compare adopt
■ adjective
[ only before noun ] used with some nouns in connection with the fostering of a child :
a foster mother / father / family
foster parents
a foster child
a foster home
foster care
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English fōstrian feed, nourish , from fōster food, nourishment , of Germanic origin; related to food . The sense bring up another's (originally also one's own) child dates from Middle English .