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handmaiden

 - 3 dictionary results

hand⋅maid

  [hand-meyd]
Use handmaiden in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To handmaiden
hand·maid   (hānd'mād')   
n.  

  1. A woman attendant or servant.

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

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

handmaid 
1382, from hand (in the sense in close at hand) + maid. Cf. O.E. handþrgn "personal attendant."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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