maidservant

[ meyd-sur-vuhnt ]

noun

1. a female servant.

maidservant

/ ˈmeɪdˌsɜːvənt /

noun

1. a female servant

Word History and Origins

Origin of maidservant¹

First recorded in 1520–30; maid + servant

Example Sentences

Why would the trusted seamstress and maidservant of Martha Washington, who had been at her side for more than ten years, run away in the first place?

From Literature

In addition to privileging a specific religious text, he noted it also potentially puts public school teachers in a position to have to explain to young students the meaning of biblical commandments such as “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant …”

From Washington Post

On New Year’s Day in 1753, Canning, an 18-year-old London maidservant, disappeared without a trace, then stumbled back to her mother’s home a month later, claiming to have been assaulted, kidnapped and imprisoned in a brothel by two woman, including Mary Squires, whom she identified as “a gypsy.”

From New York Times

He enjoyed a privileged childhood: in a 2014 column for the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper, he recounted how his elementary school classmates had teased him when he revealed that he breakfasted with his family’s “maidservant.”

From New York Times

Like a scene from “Game of Thrones,” the Rubens shows a grinning maidservant pulling the tongue out from St. John the Baptist’s freshly severed head as she presents it on a platter to Salome.

From New York Times

Related Words

• au pair
• chambermaid
• girl
• housemaid