sb. [F. crèche (in 13th c. cresche) = Pr. crépia, crepcha, It. greppia:—Rom. creppia, a. OHG. kripja, krippa, CRIB. Cf. CRATCH.] A public nursery for infants; an institution where the infant children of poor women are taken care of while their mothers are at work, or in hospitals, etc.
1882. Contemp. Rev., Jan., 50. No such crèche should be allowed to exist except under direct Government inspection.
Mod. Newspaper, The Crèche and Infant Home at Stepney-causeway is a public nursery for infants. The institution provides entirely for some 30 infants, whose mothers are in hospitals or convalescent homes. Besides these, from 100 to 130 are left daily by their mothers while at work, a charge of 2d. a day being made for each child.
