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.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of nursemaid

First recorded in 1650–60; nurse + maid

Example Sentences

Cassiopeia had been kept busy as a nursemaid with a newborn baby, although she did not seem to mind.

From Literature

Agnes’ mother never bonded with her daughter and showed her little attention except to object to her daughter’s clear intelligence and closeness with her nursemaid.

From Los Angeles Times

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