MAID

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unmarried girl (especially a virgin)

Synonyms:

maid; maiden

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman (a young female)

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

damoiselle; damosel; damozel; damsel; demoiselle (a young unmarried woman)

Instance hyponyms:

Io ((Greek mythology) a maiden seduced by Zeus; when Hera was about to discover them together Zeus turned her into a white heifer)

Derivation:

maidhood (the childhood of a girl)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A female domestic

Synonyms:

amah; housemaid; maid; maidservant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("maid" 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 "maid"):

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)

Credits

Context examples:

A maid servant living alone in a house not far from the river, had gone upstairs to bed about eleven.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The servant, who saw only that Miss Marianne was taken ill, had sense enough to call one of the maids, who, with Mrs. Dashwood's assistance, supported her into the other room.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The door was opened almost at once by the maid.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The maid replied: “Do just tell her, miss, that a young fox is here, who would like to woo her.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Only Jules Vibart, the lover of the maid, had any suggestion to offer.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Harrison’s no lady’s-maid fighter, and he’s blood to the bone. He’d have a shy at it if his man was as big as Carlton House.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Mrs Harville was a very experienced nurse, and her nursery-maid, who had lived with her long, and gone about with her everywhere, was just such another.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Her hair was cut and dressed by the best hand, her clothes put on with care, and both Mrs. Allen and her maid declared she looked quite as she should do.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The maids of honour often invited Glumdalclitch to their apartments, and desired she would bring me along with her, on purpose to have the pleasure of seeing and touching me.