Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A grandmother.
  • noun A nanny.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Grandmother.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal A pet name for one's grandmother.
  • noun A nanny.
  • noun informal Short form of banana, the fruit.
  • noun slang A fool.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Of baby-talk origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Variant spelling of nanna.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

An aphetic form of banana.

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Examples

  • Andrew Carle, a former rehab hospital director who now directs a senior housing program at George Mason University, coined the term "nana technologies" for such things.

    NYT > Home Page By PAULA SPAN 2011

  • MIss nana is the hottest ive heard ... if u agree of disagree visit missnana sit .. www. missnana.com

    Gonna Start My Dynasty Like Dame and Hova (Music (For Robots)) 2005

  • (My own mother, for example - "nana" - comes to look after my kids twice a week: She would easily win a GAS case, I bet, if I divorced my wife and she tried maliciously to block nana's access.)

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2009

  • I was tense on Friday night because my nana is returning from her month of respite this week, and I am dreading it, and when I tried talking to Llew about it, he wasn’t interested, didn’t want to know, and asked me what the hell my problem was because he couldn’t see the big deal.

    Women’s History Month « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • I aku keia, "He kamaaina no ko makou mea nana i alakai mai, oia hoi kela wahi kanaka nana i olelo mai ia oe no Kauakahialii."

    The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Martha Warren Beckwith 1915

  • A lohe o Ihuanu i keia olelo a Aiwohikupua, i mai la oia, "He oi oe o ke kanaka nana i olelo hookano iho nei wau imua o keia aha a pau, owau no ka oi mamua o na kanaka a pau, a ke olelo mai nei hoi oe i ekolu aku ma keia aoao, a heaha la oe i mua o'u?"

    The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Martha Warren Beckwith 1915

  • Ia manawa, olelo aku kahi kanaka nana i ike mua ia

    The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Martha Warren Beckwith 1915

  • His nana was a true believer in taking a dogs food away if it growled, which is wrong, it made her anxious and protective.

    Evening Mail news round-up 2010

  • His nana was a true believer in taking a dogs food away if it growled, which is wrong, it made her anxious and protective.

    Evening Mail news round-up 2010

  • His nana was a true believer in taking a dogs food away if it growled, which is wrong, it made her anxious and protective.

    Evening Mail news round-up 2010

Comments

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  • tuna

    December 29, 2007

  • pet name for grandmother

    The name of the Newfoundland dog in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan

    February 18, 2008