nursery-maidn.
/ˈnəːs(ə)rɪˌmeɪd/, U.S. /ˈnərs(ə)riˌmeɪd/ Now chiefly historical.
= nursemaid n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [noun] > nursemaid
nursemaid1657
nursery-maid1662
ayah1782
nanny1785
nan1940
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Comical Hash ii. viii, in Playes Written 565 Indeed I have heard many Nursery Maids give so sharp and quick replies, as amongst some would be judged to be great wits.
1677 Compl. Servant-maid (title page) Chamber-maid, Cook-maid, Nursery-maid, Dairy-maid.
1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 1 I was a little Boy, of about two Years old, very well dress'd, had a Nursery Maid to tend me.
1754 S. Fielding & J. Collier Cry I. i. iii. 62 She sits..in hopes of..being ask'd some questions, for which her nursery maid perhaps hath furnish'd her with a smart answer.
1797 M. Underwood Treat. Disorders Childhood III. 42 Nursery-maids are often indiscreet in keeping them [sc. infant-children] too long in the air at a time.
1836 C. G. F. Gore Mrs. Armytage I. xviii. 271 Nay, between the pauses of her grander movements, she would even busy herself with the welfare of such small-deer as pages or nursery-maids.
1869 R. T. Claridge Cold-water Cure 39 At a spring the nursery-maid asked me if she might give the child water.
1936 E. Sitwell Sel. Poems Pref. 25 As a child, I had a nursery-maid called Martha.
1972 J. Gathorne-Hardy Rise & Fall Brit. Nanny i. 20 This old Nanny would have started..as a nursery-maid at twelve, worked long and arduous hours under a draconian R.S.M. Nanny..and finally have achieved Nanny-dom herself.
1991 R. Cecil Masks of Death (BNC) 18 The girls from the cottages came into the big house as dairy or nursery-maids.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
nursery-maidv.
/ˈnəːs(ə)rɪˌmeɪd/, U.S. /ˈnərs(ə)riˌmeɪd/ rare.
transitive. = nursemaid v.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > care, protection, or charge > care for, protect, or have charge of [verb (transitive)] > excessively
baby1744
mollycoddle1851
wet-nurse1873
overprotectc1885
nursery-maid1899
nursemaid1921
nanny1954
nannify1962
1899 C. J. Hyne Further Adv. Capt. Kettle x. 201 ‘But you know nothing about diving, and you might have an accident.’.. ‘Oh, I'll risk that. You must nursery-maid me a bit.’
1966 Punch 9 Nov. 708/3 It is the duty of every patriotic Englishman to oppose this Government and to refuse to be nursery-maided by tinpot dictators.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1662
v.1899