MAIDSERVANT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does maidservant mean? 

• MAIDSERVANT (noun)
  The noun MAIDSERVANT has 1 sense:

1. a female domestic

  Familiarity information: MAIDSERVANT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MAIDSERVANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A female domestic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

amah; housemaid; maid; maidservant

Hypernyms ("maidservant" is a kind of...):

domestic; domestic help; house servant (a servant who is paid to perform menial tasks around the household)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "maidservant"):

chambermaid; fille de chambre (a maid who is employed to clean and care for bedrooms (now primarily in hotels))

handmaid; handmaiden (a personal maid or female attendant)

lady's maid (a maid who is a lady's personal attendant)

parlormaid; parlourmaid (a maid in a private home whose duties are to care for the parlor and the table and to answer the door)

 Context examples 

For the rest, his house is full of butlers, footmen, maidservants, and the usual overfed, underworked staff of a large English country house.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The maidservant of Mrs. Rushworth, senior, threatened alarmingly.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The hot weather made him indolent, and he had shirked his studies, tried Mr. Brooke's patience to the utmost, displeased his grandfather by practicing half the afternoon, frightened the maidservants half out of their wits by mischievously hinting that one of his dogs was going mad, and, after high words with the stableman about some fancied neglect of his horse, he had flung himself into his hammock to fume over the stupidity of the world in general, till the peace of the lovely day quieted him in spite of himself.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The moment they stopped, a trollopy-looking maidservant, seemingly in waiting for them at the door, stepped forward, and more intent on telling the news than giving them any help, immediately began with, The Thrush is gone out of harbour, please sir, and one of the officers has been here to—

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)