Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nanny n.¹

a female or homosexual prostitute.

1727		‘The Martin and the Oyster’ in 18C Collections Online n.p.: You Jade said he, behold my Bill, / See how erect it stands [...] Nanny feel It; squeeze It; – Warm your Hands.
1828		‘Jon Bee’ Living Picture of London 159: A soldier [...] whose nickname Nancy Cooper designated his character [...] was hanged at Newgate-door [...] that which conferred upon him his Nanny-title, as well as that which cost him his last fling; but by his demand for hush-money, he flung his life away.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
2009		T. Black Gutted 228: ‘You for a ride? Only top nanny, mind’.

In compounds

nanny-house (n.) [house n.¹ (1)]

a brothel.

c.1685		‘Answer to the Poor Whore’s Complaint’ [broadsheet ballad] From Fleet-street to the Tower, in all the Nanny-housen, There’s common Cracks ... Full five and fifty Thousand.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Nanny-house a Bawdy-house.
1700		Devil and the Strumpet 3: 20 young Virgins, whose Maiden-heads rais’d her such vast Contribition Money, that she soon set up for her self an invincible Nanny-house.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1825		J.T. Brockett Gloss. N. Country Words 146: Nanny-house, Nanny-shop, a brothel. Newcastle.
1836		M. Scott Cruise of the Midge II 234: A nest of nanny houses, as they are called, inhabited by brown free people.
1844		New Sprees of London 35: Shire-lane, Strand. There were a number of Nanny-houses here, but only two are remaining, the others are all tenantless, and decorated with padlocks.

nanny-shop (n.) [shop n.¹ (3)]

a brothel.

1825		see nanny-house
1852		Sherborne Mercury 31 Aug. 2/7: He keeps a nanny-shop — a public house — a house of ill-fame.
1858		Preston Chron. 18 Dec. 6/4: He had kept a house in Queen-street [...] He did not keep a ‘nanny-shop’ at any rate.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		Derby Mercury 6 July 7/5: He shouted out that the Coffee House was notjhing but a ‘Nanny shop and that Mr Jones ought to be driven out of town.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 6: Nanny Shop - A disreputable house. A ‘crib’.
1886		Reynold’s Newspaper (London) 12 Dec. 2/2: Down on her luck, s’pose. The nanny-shop’s cross, and she’ll cut up didoes.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 52: Nanny Shop, a disreputable house.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 33: Bazar, m. A brothel; ‘a nanny-shop’.
1939		D. Maurer ‘Prostitutes and Criminal Argots’ in Lang. Und. (1981) 117/1: bull pen. A cheap house. Also cathouse, hook-shop, nanny-shop, nautch house.