a nurse or nursemaid for children
any person or thing regarded as treating people like children, esp by being patronizing or overprotective
( as modifier )
the nanny state
a child's word for grandmother
(intr) to nurse or look after someone else's children
(tr) to be overprotective towards
1785–95; nursery word; compare Welsh nain grandmother, Greek nánna aunt, Russian nyánya nursemaid
A nanny is a full-time babysitter, someone whose job is taking care of a family's children. If you're a lucky kid, your nanny will be like Mary Poppins or Maria from "A Sound of Music." Being a nanny goes beyond hourly childcare — a nanny is usually the person who spends the most time with a baby or child. A nanny might feed, bathe, play with, and otherwise care for a toddler, or drive an older child to ballet lessons. Most nannies work in the child's home, sometimes even living there. A completely different definition of nanny is "female goat." The word's origin is probably as a nickname for Ann, a generic woman's name, though it's also traditionally used for "close female adult," such as an aunt.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Astin succeeds The Nanny series star Fran Drescher, who steered the organization through the Hollywood strikes of 2023 during her four-year tenure.
From BBC • Nov. 14, 2025
The women taking Hidalgo’s course as part of We Rise Nanny Training in Brooklyn have no intention of being defenseless.
From Seattle Times • May 15, 2024
"The Nanny" veteran's speech fired up the 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members going on strike after 98% of the union's membership authorized the action in June.
From Salon • Jul. 14, 2023
Fran Drescher, former star of "The Nanny" and the president of SAG-AFTRA, said studios' responses to the actors' concerns had been "insulting and disrespectful."
From Reuters • Jul. 13, 2023
“Ah ain’t gointuh do it no mo’, Nanny.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
