primarily means "to heat, to soften by heat;" then, "to keep warm," as of birds covering their young with their feathers, Deuteronomy 22:6 , Sept.; metaphorically, "to cherish with tender love, to foster with tender care," in Ephesians 5:29 of Christ and the Church; in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 of the care of the saints at Thessalonica by the Apostle and his associates, as of a nurse for her children.