wetnurse
wetnurse Lexical Profile
wetnurse Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A woman employed to breastfeed and care for another woman's infant.
"In aristocratic households of the eighteenth century, hiring a wetnurse was a common practice."
• verb
To act as a wetnurse to an infant; to breastfeed another woman's child.
"She agreed to wetnurse the orphaned infant until he was old enough for solid food."
To coddle, pamper, or look after someone excessively as if they were helpless.
"The senior manager refused to wetnurse new recruits who failed to read the basic training manual."
Word Nuance & Usage
Most commonly written as an open compound ('wet nurse' for the noun) or hyphenated ('wet-nurse' for the verb), though the closed form 'wetnurse' is an established variant.
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the early 17th century from 'wet' (in the sense of lactating) and 'nurse', contrasting with a 'dry nurse', who cared for a child without breastfeeding.