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maid

- 4 dictionary results

maid

[meyd]
–noun
1. a female servant.
2. a girl or young unmarried woman.
3. Archaic. a virgin.

Origin:
1150–1200; ME; apocopated var. of maiden


maidish, adjective
maid⋅ish⋅ness, noun
maid   (mād)   
n.  
    1. An unmarried girl or woman.
    2. A virgin.
  1. A woman servant.
  2. A housemaid or chambermaid.

[Middle English maide, from Old English mægden; see maghu- in Indo-European roots.]

Maid

Maid\, n. [Shortened from maiden. ?. See Maiden.]

1. An unmarried woman; usually, a young unmarried woman; esp., a girl; a virgin; a maiden.

Would I had died a maid, And never seen thee, never borne thee son. --Shak.

Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me. --Jer. ii. 32.

2. A man who has not had sexual intercourse. [Obs.]

Christ was a maid and shapen as a man. --Chaucer.

3. A female servant.

Spinning amongst her maids. --Shak.

Note: Maid is used either adjectively or in composition, signifying female, as in maid child, maidservant.

4. (Zo["o]l.) The female of a ray or skate, esp. of the gray skate (Raia batis), and of the thornback (R. clavata). [Prov. Eng.]

Fair maid. (Zo["o]l.) See under Fair, a.

Maid of honor, a female attendant of a queen or royal princess; -- usually of noble family, and having to perform only nominal or honorary duties.

Old maid. See under Old.
Language Translation for : maid
Spanish: criada, sirvienta, muchacha, chacha,
German: das Dienstmädchen,
Japanese: お手伝い

maid 
c.1175, "a virgin, a young unmarried woman," shortening of maiden (q.v.). Like that word, used in M.E. of unmarried men as well as women. Domestic help sense is from 1390, from sense in maidservant (1526). In ref. to Joan of Arc, attested from 1548 (cf. Fr. la Pucelle). Maid Marian, one of Robin Hood's companions, first recorded c.1525, perhaps from Fr., where Robin et Marian have been stock names for country lovers since 13c. Maid of Honor (c.1586) originally was "unmarried lady of noble birth who attends a queen or princess;" meaning "principal bridesmaid" is attested from 1895.
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