Handmaid

//ˈhændˌmeɪd// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant. historical

    "And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:"

  2. 2
    a personal maid or female attendant wordnet
  3. 3
    A moth of the species Dysauxes ancilla.
  4. 4
    in a subordinate position wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abigailagentamahancillaapplianceau pair girl

Example

More examples

"Please forgive the trespass of thy handmaid."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English handemayde, hand-maide, handmaide, handmayd, hand mayde, hand-mayde, haundmaid, hondemayde, hondmaide, hond-mayde. By surface analysis, compound of hand + maid, the first component in the sense of "ready at hand".

Related phrases

female servantwith hand

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.