vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ING1.] † a. Anxiety (obs.). b. Taking care of.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, IV. viii. 266. Shee was very ill, both by caretaking and sicknesse.
1765. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VIII. xx. The want of caretaking of me.
So Care-taking ppl. a., that takes care, careful.
1825. in W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 12. Industrious and care-taking creatures reduced to beggary by bank-paper.
