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

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 • Oct. 26, 2023

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

From New York Times • Feb. 7, 2023

In the 1830s, in a young nation eager to connect to the past, Barnum toured with Joice Heth, an enslaved woman who claimed to be 161 years old and the former nursemaid to George Washington.

From Washington Post • Oct. 18, 2019

A posthumous Irish child, abandoned by his mother to a nursemaid, he was also an exasperated, petulant and insubordinate genius, an Anglican clergyman with an incurable sense of humiliation and gloom. 

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2017

Turning back to my old nursemaid, I ask her what’s uppermost on my mind.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez