abigail
/ˈabɪɡeɪl
/noun archaic
A lady’s maid.Lady Protheroe sent her abigail ahead and took Croft's arm....
- I was as close as a young lady might be to her abigail, but it did not help that I could not drag a coherent word out of her.
- I have taken the liberty of retaining an abigail for you; I was surprised your father had not done so.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from the name of a character in The Scornful Lady by Beaumont and Fletcher, possibly in allusion to 1 Sam. 25: 23–24: ‘And when Abigail saw David, she … fell at his feet, and said, “… hear the words of thine handmaid”.’.
- beaver hat
- beaver house
- beaver lamb
- Beaver River
- Beaver State
- Beaverton
- be a wake-up
- be away
- be away laughing
- be a weight off one's mind
- be banging (or knocking) one's head against a brick wall
- be barking up the wrong tree
- be beaten at the post
- be beforehand with
- be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp (or burnt) stick
- be better than nothing
- be bitten by the —— bug
- be blown off course
- bebop
- bebopper
- be borne in on (or upon)
- be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
- be bouncing off the walls
- be brought to bed
- be browned off