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Glite Dictionary
day nursery

day nursery

2.2
A place where adults look after young children during the day while their parents work
  • noun
  • /deɪ ˈnɜr.sə.ri/
  • UK
translation icon : guardería
  • My sister takes her son to the local day nursery every morning before heading to her job.

Examples

  • The day nursery provides a safe environment where young kids can learn and socialize.

  • You would push and pull the children in two carts after you had picked them up at the day nursery and before you made their dinner, gave them their baths, read to them, tucked them in, cleaned up the kitchen, did the laundry, and prepared lesson plans.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • As the kindergarten developed into a full-fledged settlement house, with classes, clubs, a day nursery, health clinic, playground, and temporary shelter for children, its Americanizing mission remained constant.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The children at the day nursery played together happily while their parents were at work.

Synonyms

child care
vsday nursery
116 1.9

Looking after children by someone other than their parents, often for pay

is specifically a daytime place for working parents rather than the general paid service
daycare
vsday nursery
106 1.0

A place where staff look after young children during the day while their parents work

emphasizes the place where children are cared for while parents work
day care
vsday nursery
75 1.2

Care for children during the day while their parents work

is the place where that care happens rather than the care action itself
day care center
vsday nursery
  • US
50 1.8

A place where young children are looked after while parents work

is the same meaning but phrased with different words
nursery
vsday nursery
37 1.0

A place where young children are looked after and learn before starting school

focuses on daytime care for working parents rather than early education before school
childcare
vsday nursery
28 2.1

Looking after children by people who are paid

focuses on the daytime location serving working parents rather than the profession of care
creche
vsday nursery
  • UK
1 5.7

A place where babies and young children are cared for during the day

focuses on children whose parents are at work rather than other busy reasons

Surface Forms

day nursery singular
day nurseries plural

Morphology

day + nursery

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'day' (during the daytime) with 'nursery' (a place caring for young children): a nursery that operates during the day. This straightforward noun–noun composition is cross-linguistically common (daycare/day nursery equivalents exist in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would understand it.

Etymology

Day nursery comes from the older word nursery, which meant a place where someone is 'nursed' or cared for, like a place that grows young plants. Adding day showed the care was 'during the day' while parents worked, so today a day nursery is a place that looks after young children during the day.