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

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 • Oct. 17, 2025

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

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

P. L. Travers’s English nursemaid brings her spoonful of sugar and bottomless satchel to the Banks family’s London home in this Disney fantasy starring Julie Andrews.

From New York Times • Dec. 10, 2016

Mami was in a good mood, letting the baby go off with the nursemaid, Milagros.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez