> as lemmas

1738 T. Lediard German Spy xxx. 286 People of Fashion are, however, generally so cautious, to have their Milk, as well as their Persons, examin'd by a Physician, or, at least, by the Granny of the Family.

1775 G. Washington Cash Accts. 18 Mar. in Papers (1995) Colonial Ser. X. 279 Contra... By my Mother of the Granny at her Quarters 0.10.0.

1794 G. Washington Let. in Writings (1892) XIII. 18 An application was made to me by Kate at Muddy hole..to serve the negro women (as a Grany) on my estate.

1857 New Orleans Med. News & Hosp. Gaz. 3 329 The worse than inefficiency of the ‘midwife’, or, in common parlance, the ‘granny’.

1888 A. C. Waghorne Wild Berries Newfoundland & Labrador 10 They [sc. juniper berries] are much in request by our ‘grannies’ for their ‘sick’ women.

1933 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 46 5 Some of the old granny-women still administer gunpowder and water to women in labor.

1964 R. D. Abrahams Deep down in Jungle i. i. 24 The Negro grandmother's importance is due to..her position as ‘granny’ or midwife among a simple peasant folk.

1981 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. lxviii. 64 The following words were used by older informants [in Carbonear, Newfoundland] only:..granny (midwife).

1992 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 8 Nov. 3/3 The various arrangements for midwifery..the traditional black ‘grannies’ of the American South.

1997 R. Porter Greatest Benefit to Mankind x. 273 Within polite circles first in England and then in North America, the traditional ‘granny midwife’ was now widely displaced by a male operator.