handmaid - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: handmaid

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hand·maid

Audio Help [hand-meyd] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	something that is necessarily subservient or subordinate to another: Ceremony is but the handmaid of worship.

2.	a female servant or attendant.

Also, handmaiden.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME; see hand, maid

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
handmaid

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hand·maid Audio Help (hānd'mād') Pronunciation Key
n.

A woman attendant or servant.
often handmaiden Something that accompanies or is attendant on another: "the traditional notion that government was the handmaiden of business" (Doris Kearns Goodwin).

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
handmaid

1382, from hand (in the sense in close at hand) + maid. Cf. O.E. handþrgn "personal attendant."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

handmaid
noun
1.	in a subordinate position; "theology should be the handmaiden of ethics"; "the state cannot be a servant of the church"
2.	a personal maid or female attendant