handmaidenn.
/ˈhan(d)ˌmeɪdn/, U.S. /ˈhæn(d)ˌmeɪdən/ 1. A female personal attendant or servant; = handmaid n. 1a. archaic and historical in later use.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > attendant or personal servant > [noun] > female
thuftena1100
handmaidc1300
damselc1330
maid womanc1330
handmaidenc1350
handwomana1382
foot maid?a1475
foot maidenc1480
waiting-woman1565
waitressc1595
waiter1639
attendressa1661
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) lxxxv. 15 Make sauf þe sone of þyn hondemaiden [v.r. hondemayde; L. ancillae].
a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) cxxii. 3 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 259 Als eghen ofe handmaiden [L. ancillae] klene In hende ofe hir leuedy bene.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. lxxviij/2 Sende one of thyn handmaydens.
a1500 Rule Minoresses in W. W. Seton Two 15th Cent. Franciscan Rules (1914) 98 (MED) It is couenabel, lowli seruauntes & deuowtes hand maydenes of owre lorde Ihesu criste..þe worlde..to forsake.
1579 J. Knewstub Confut. Heresies f. 40v His children, sonnes & daughters, seruants and handmaidens.
1611 Bible (King James) Luke i. 48 He hath regarded the lowe estate of his handmaiden . View more context for this quotation
1673 E. Hickeringill Gregory 102 Merciful and charitable works to our selves, our neighbours, our servants, our handmaidens..and the like.
1735 G. Killingworth Suppl. Serm. against Popery 26 The promise of the Holy Ghost..was made by the prophet Joel..to the old and young men, servants and handmaidens.
1789 Edinb. Mag. Nov. 353/1 The ladies of the Haram..were frequently entertained by..most extravagant tales..read to them by their handmaidens.
1832 M. R. Mitford Our Village V. 79 Who filled an equivocal post in the household, half handmaiden and half companion.
1889 G. Gissing Nether World I. i. 15 The hand-maiden was on her knees near the fire, scrubbing very hard at the pan.
1924 J. F. Dorrance Never fire First 53 When Oliver gets back.., I'll become quite useless as your handmaiden.
1953 A. Hosain Phoenix Fled 183 The woman had no status, neither as a wife nor a mother of sons, and could be her handmaiden.
2000 G. Lucas Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace 29 (stage direct.) Two Guards, and three handmaidens..head for a sleek chrome spacecraft.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts; esp. (with reference to an abstract thing) = handmaid n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of secondary importance
handmaidena1425
handmaid1533
anise1741
first (second) chop1823
secondary1841
footnote1858
bush league1928
a1425 Daily Work (Arun.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 135 (MED) Gode wille is als handmaiden til grace, to wirke al hire wille.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft xiii. ii. 290 Art is seruant vnto nature, and waiteth upon hir as hir handmaiden.
1612 W. Martyn Youths Instr. 71 Let humilitie be her hand-maiden to attend vpon her.
1689 R. Cox Hibernia Anglicana: Pt. 1 229 Hatred be commonly the Handmaiden of Truth, because we see him that plainly expresseth his Mind, to be for the more part of most men disliked.
1713 Sin Punished 106 Wisdom..is Mistress, and Gold is her Handmaiden.
1788 Town & Country Mag. Feb. 73/1 The crimson of the rose..may, perhaps, please yet more when presented to the view by the hand-maiden of nature [sc. the artist].
1801 Connecticut Evangelical Mag. July 14/2 Thro' the influence of music our very senses become as it were hand maidens to devotion.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 28 Health and temperance..are the handmaidens of virtue.
1935 Fortune Aug. 12/3 Surprising in a man who is handmaiden to standpat conservative business, he is decidedly leftist economically.
1942 Pop. Sci. Oct. 129/1 Chartres Cathedral, in which Gothic architecture and its decorative handmaiden, stained glass, reached their sublime peak.
1993 B. Farthing Internat. Shipping (ed. 2) i. 3 It should never be forgotten that shipping is the handmaiden of trade and commerce.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.c1350