auntie

plural aunties · alternative aunty

1. diminutiveendearingDiminutive of aunt.
2. AfricaAustraliaNew ZealandAsiaTerm of familiarity or respect for a middle-aged or elderly woman.
3. Hong KongFemale domestic helper.
4. USslangAn elderly gay man.

present singular third person aunties · participle present auntying · participle past auntied · past auntied · alternative aunty

1. To be or behave like the aunt of.

   More and more children are being "auntied" by women in the community who feel it is their duty as mothers to care for parentless children.

   2003, Richard M. Lerner, Handbook of applied developmental science

   3 more examples

   In the same melodrama, Madame Rotschild, a supporting character plays a similar role by "auntying" all children as a rich and powerful woman who can solve most problems in children's own homes.

   1994, Maria Guadalupe Serna-Perez, Entrepreneurship, Women's Roles, and the Domestic Cycle

   She had had only one unmitigated success in bending the girl to her will over the many years she'd auntied her: She had peeled the dialect right olf Lina's tongue.

   2011, Salvatore Scibona, The End, page 72

   “I am the best auntie of any auntie that has ever auntied,” she'd say, and in doing so reshape herself into the image her community needed to see.

   2019, Keturah Kendrick, No Thanks: Black, Female, and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone

1. UKendearingThe BBC.

   Synonyms: the Beeb, Auntie Beeb

2. AustraliaendearingThe ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission).