Valet

//ˈvæleɪ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A man's personal male attendant, responsible for his clothes and appearance.
  2. 2
    a manservant who acts as a personal attendant to their employer wordnet
  3. 3
    A hotel employee performing such duties for guests.
  4. 4
    A female performer in professional wrestling, acting as either a manager or personal chaperone; often used to attract and titillate male members of the audience.
  5. 5
    A female chaperone who accompanies a man, and is usually not married to him.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    A person employed to clean or park cars. US

    "A HEROIC dad who helped deliver his new-born baby in the back of his car had to explain to his car valet that he wasn't involved in illegal crime."

  2. 7
    A person employed to assist the jockey and trainer at a racecourse.
  3. 8
    A wooden stand on which to hold clothes and accessories in preparation for dressing.
  4. 9
    A kind of goad or stick with an iron point.
Verb
  1. 1
    To serve (someone) as a valet. transitive

    "You can valet me, can you? Bother valeting me! I like to put on my own clothes, and brush them, too, when they are on; and if I only knew how to black my own boots, by George I should like to do it!"

  2. 2
    serve as a personal attendant to wordnet
  3. 3
    To clean and service (a car), as a valet does. Ireland, UK, transitive

    "He revealed: “We had been through a lot and I decided the car needed to be cleaned out after Georgina had to deliver the baby in the car. “You can imagine the scene when I left the car in for valeting. I got some funny looks and I had to explain to the guy that I wasn’t up to anything illegal because it did look a bit like a crime scene.”"

  4. 4
    To leave (a car) with a valet to park it. US, transitive

    "I asked Giacomo if he ever valeted his car, and he twisted his face into a grimace as he replied, “Rarely, but I have done it. Nervous time.”"

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.

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