nursemaid

[ nurs-meyd ]

noun

1. Also called nurser·y·maid. a woman or girl employed to care for a child or several children, especially in a household.

verb (used with object)

1. to act as a nursemaid to; to take care of or look after protectively.

nursemaid

/ ˈnɜːsˌmeɪd; ˈnɜːsrɪˌmeɪd /

noun

1. a woman or girl employed to look after someone else's children Often shortened tonurse

Word History and Origins

Origin of nursemaid¹

First recorded in 1650–60; nurse + maid

Example Sentences

They took her to the children’s emergency department down the road from their home in the Bay Area, where she was diagnosed with “nursemaid’s elbow” or, more technically, a “radial head subluxation.”

From Los Angeles Times

She’d been working since she was 11 years old, first as a nursemaid during summer breaks, then as a cook for wealthier families.

From Scientific American

Frances left school to work as a seamstress and nursemaid for a white Baltimore family that owned a bookshop.

From New York Times

“Not play nursemaid to thousands and thousands of illegals. He would rather have them do their job, which is stopping them at the border.”

From Seattle Times

Instead, it raids another ant species’ colonies for workers that it enslaves to nursemaid its young.

From New York Times