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• wet nurse
  wet nurse

  noun

  a woman hired to suckle another's infant.
• wet-nurse
  wet-nurse

  verb (used with object)

  to act as a wet nurse to (an infant).

wet nurse

¹ American  

noun

1. a woman hired to suckle another's infant.

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wet-nurse ² American  

[wet-nurs] / ˈwɛtˌnɜrs /

verb (used with object)

wet-nursed, wet-nursing

1. to act as a wet nurse to (an infant).

2. to give excessive care or attention to; treat as if helpless.

   The warden is accused of wet-nursing his prisoners.

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wet nurse British  

noun

1. a woman hired to suckle the child of another

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verb

1. to act as a wet nurse to (a child)

2. informal to attend with great devotion

Etymology

Origin of wet nurse¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Origin of wet-nurse²

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wet nurse wet-nurse wet-nursed wet-nursing

Her aunt was the soprano Valentina Bartolomasi, and young Mirella had the same wet nurse as Modena’s most famous singer, who was born 7 1/2 months later, Luciano Pavarotti.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2020

The jumps — from a private D.C. golf club to the bed of Sophia Loren’s wet nurse to a performance of the all-bear Moscow State Circus — recall the quick cuts of Renata Adler's “Speedboat.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2018

She first acted as a wet nurse to help out a friend whose baby was in hospital.

From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2018

A wet nurse whisked him to England for three years.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 28, 2017

It is something I saw my mum do when she took care of a baby whose mother had died, until she could find a wet nurse.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Mary was “the wet-nurse of salvation,” as one phrase had it, offering holy succor to communities exposed to the vagaries of war and disease.

From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2013

There's a brief window of feeling all-powerful before the realisation sets in that in actual fact, far from being a god, the player is the wet-nurse for a group of AI controlled bots.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 10, 2011

In Shanghai a wet-nurse unable to find food for her family went on strike, demanding 100 lbs. of rice from her employer.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Who would have thought of telling us, brother Florentinus, that at the end of our days we should be inspecting a wet-nurse?" said the Abbot laughing.

From The Hour Will Come: Volumes I and II A Tale of an Alpine Cloister by Hillern, Wilhelmine von

You are a very good solicitor, Mr. Widdicombe; but you told me once that you were not a wet-nurse, and I prefer you send some one else.

From The Tigress by Warner, Anne

They must be wet-nursed hour by hour, their computers prepared to receive fire-control data, their gyros kept warmed and ready, their switches checked and rechecked so that they can be fired on 15 minutes' notice.

From Time Magazine Archive

He wasn't any Barker to be wet-nursed by Demorest.

From The Three Partners by Harte, Bret

Or is he a mythus,—ancient word for "humbug," —Such as Livy told about the wolf that wet-nursed Romulus and Remus?

From The Professor at the Breakfast-Table by Holmes, Oliver Wendell

The child that she wet-nursed is lapp'd in the wave; The Mussulman, coming to fish in this water, Adds a tear to the flood that weeps over her grave.

From The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood by Hood, Thomas

On the continent of Europe, in Lyons and Parthenay, where foundlings are wet-nursed from the time they are received, the deaths are 33.7 and 35 per cent.

From The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother by Napheys, George H. (George Henry)

"Babies benefit from human milk donated by other mothers when their own mother's milk is unavailable," La Leche League says in its cross-nursing and wet-nursing statement.

From Time Magazine Archive

At 30, Pitcher Sain is a phlegmatic, self-disciplined ballplayer who needs no prodding or wet-nursing.

From Time Magazine Archive

But, the statement continues, the group's breast-feeding advocates "shall not ever suggest an informal milk-donation arrangement, including wet-nursing or cross-nursing."

From Time Magazine Archive

The old man had once hired her for the humiliating duty of wet-nursing his children.

From Time Magazine Archive

So, also, the presence of certain diseases forbids wet-nursing.

From The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother by Napheys, George H. (George Henry)

Related Words

• assistant
• attendant
• medic
• registered nurse
• therapist