babysit

See also: baby-sit

English

Alternative forms

• baby-sit

Etymology

Back-formation from babysitter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɪ.bi.sɪt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Verb

babysit (third-person singular simple present babysits, present participle babysitting, simple past and past participle babysat)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To watch or tend someone else's child for a period of time, often for money.

   My daughter is babysitting for the Morgans at number ten, who are going out on a date night.

   We need someone to babysit our children while we go to the theater.

   • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     Bart eventually gets Laura to babysit while Homer and Marge eat at the Sea Captain’s all-you-can-eat seafood joint, The Frying Dutchman.

2. (transitive, informal) To watch or tend a thing or process without normally intervening in it, e.g. as a precaution should an emergency happen.

   The reaction takes several hours, so we leave a graduate student to babysit it.

3. (transitive, informal) To watch or attend anything or anyone more closely than ought to be needed; to have to help or coax too much.

   Synonym: (partial) coddle

   He left me to babysit the new guy while he got some work done.

   • 2016, Christopher Vasey, Nazi Intelligence Operations in Non-Occupied Territories, page 175:

     It was observed by the FBI personnel assigned to “babysit” agent Tricycle that his egregiously excessive spending was causing unwanted attention […]

Related terms

• babysitter
• catsit
• dogsit
• housesit

Translations

to watch or tend someone else's child for a period of time, often for money

• Arabic: يجالس
• Cherokee: ᎠᏓᎦᏘᏰᎭ (adagatiyeha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 代人照看孩子 (dàirén zhàokàn háizi), 照看嬰兒／照看婴儿 (zhàokàn yīngér)

• Czech: hlídat děti
• Danish: babysitte, passe børn
• Dutch: babysitten (nl), kinderen passen
• Finnish: olla lapsenvahtina, olla lapsenlikkana
• French: faire du baby-sitting, garder (fr)
• German: babysitten (de)
• Hebrew: שמרטף (he) (shmirtéf)
• Hungarian: bébiszitterkedik, bébiszittel, gyerekre vigyáz
• Italian: fare da babysitter
• Japanese: 子守する (こもりする, komori suru)
• Korean: 아이를 봐주다 (aireul bwajuda), 애들을 봐주다 pl (aedeureul bwajuda)
• Norman: garder
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sitte barnevakt, passe barn

• Portuguese: pajear
• Russian: ня́ньчиться (ru) (njánʹčitʹsja), сиде́ть с ребёнком / с детьми (sidétʹ s rebjónkom / s detʹmi)
• Spanish: cuidar de los niños, hacer de canguro
• Swedish: sitta barnvakt
• Vietnamese: trông trẻ, trông em

to watch or attend anything or anyone unnecessarily closely

• Dutch: nauwgelet begeleiden
• Russian: ня́ньчиться (ru) (njánʹčitʹsja)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} gæta krakka

Danish

Verb

babysit

1. imperative of babysitte