grandma

Pluralgrandmas

Formsgrandmas, grandma-ing, grandmaed

1. 1
   parent's mothernouncolloquialcountable

   A person's grandmother: the mother of their mother or father.

   Her grandma taught her to knit when she was six.

   Both of my grandmas flew in for the graduation.

   Similargrandmother, granny, gran, nana, nan

2. 2
   look afterverbcolloquialtransitive or intransitive

   To be or act as a grandmother to someone, or to do what a grandmother does.

   With no grandchildren of her own, she happily grandmas the twins next door.

   Her apron looks like a black belt in grandma-ing.

   2013, Kelsey Timmerman, “The Starbucks Experience”

   Note

   Writers have not settled how to spell its forms: grandmaing, grandma-ing and Larry Troxel's grandma'ing all appear, with grandmaed for the past. It works with an object, as in Doris grandmaing folks, or alone, as in she was just grandma-ing. The hyphenated form is the easiest to read, since grandmaing runs two vowels together.

3. 3
   call someoneverbcolloquialtransitive

   To address someone as "grandma".

   Please don't grandma me in front of my new boss.

   “He can be my doctor anytime.” / “Grandma, eww!” / “Oh, stop grandma-ing me. You know I hate that. Come introduce us.”

   2017, Kristy Acevedo, Contribute

   Note

   It usually turns up as a protest: don't go Grandma-ing me, quit Grandma-ing me, from a woman who would rather not hear the title. Writers often capitalize it like the name, so the reader still hears the word just spoken. Older use could be warmer: in Mary Jane Holmes's Bad Hugh (c. 1890), Lottie claims kinship by grandma-ing Mrs. Richards and aunty-ing the sisters.

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