crèche

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A public nursery where the children of women who go out to work are cared for during the day, usually for a small payment.
2. n. An asylum for foundlings and infants which have been abandoned.
3. n. A representation of the Holy Family, with the babe in the manger, and the ox and ass, modeled in full relief and colored: usually exhibited at Christmas-time in the parish church.

Wiktionary

1. n. A representation of the Nativity scene.
2. n. A hospital for orphaned infants; a foundling hospital.
3. n. A day nursery.
4. n. marine biology A group of young who stay together for protection.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A public nursery, where the young children of poor women are cared for during the day, while their mothers are at work.
2. n. a day-care center for young children.
3. n. a three-dimensional model of the scene described in the Bible at the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable at Bethlehem, with Mary and Joseph near a manger in which a model of the infant Christ child is lain, and usually including figures of animals, shepherds, and the three wise men; -- also called a Nativity scene. The figures in the scene are typically made as individual statues or figurines. Smaller models are displayed in homes and other indoor locations during the Christmans season, and larger models, often life-size, may be displayed out of doors.
4. n. (Biol.) a nest where the young of several animals are cared for in a communal fashion.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a representation of Christ's nativity in the stable at Bethlehem
2. n. a hospital where foundlings (infant children of unknown parents) are taken in and cared for