nursemaid

American  

[nurs-meyd] / ˈnɜrsˌmeɪd /

noun

1. Also called nurserymaid.  a woman or girl employed to care for a child or several children, especially in a household.

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verb (used with object)

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

nursemaid British  

/ ˈnɜːsˌmeɪd, ˈnɜːsrɪˌmeɪd /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of nursemaid

First recorded in 1650–60; nurse + maid

Example Sentences

“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

Gravity, an impatient professor and a sassy nursemaid hinder movers trying to deliver a player piano to an upstairs address.

From Los Angeles Times

Rose, trembling between fear and lust, becomes Shirley’s nursemaid and her muse, her secret sharer and her prey.

From New York Times

It could not be the “nursemaid’s lullaby” of religion or the paranoid person’s account of a world out to get him.

From The Guardian