In what year did the term "babysitter" appear in the dictionary?

Babysitting is temporarily caring for a child. Babysitting can be a paid job for all ages; however, it is best known as a temporary activity for early teenagers who are not yet eligible for employment in the general economy. It provides autonomy from parental control and dispensable income, as well as an introduction to the techniques of childcare. It emerged as a social role for teenagers in the 1920s, and became especially important in suburban America in the 1950s and 1960s, when small children were abundant.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a good gauge of when a word enters the public lexicon. In the case of “babysitter”, the OED published the word in its 1937 edition.

One of the most unique things about adding the noun “babysitter” to the dictionary was that it came before the verb. Typically, in the English language, the verb comes first, and then the noun. In the case of babysitting, the verb “to babysit” wasn’t used until years later.