maid

[ meyd ]

noun

1. a female domestic employee who cleans tourist accommodations or does cleaning or other housework in a home:

   a hotel maid.

2. a female domestic servant with any of various duties, especially in a large house (often used in combination):

   a kitchen maid who assisted the cook; a handmaid; a lady’s maid; a nursery maid.

3. Archaic. a girl or young unmarried woman.
4. Archaic. a female virgin.

maid

/ meɪd /

noun

1. archaic.
   a young unmarried girl; maiden
2. 1. a female servant
   2. ( in combination )

      a housemaid

3. a spinster

Derived Forms

• ˈmaidishness, noun
• ˈmaidish, adjective

Other Words From

• maidish adjective
• maidish·ness noun
• submaid noun
• under·maid noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of maid¹

First recorded in 1225–1275; Middle English maide, maid, shortened variant of maiden

Word History and Origins

Origin of maid¹

C12: shortened form of maiden

Example Sentences

Florida officials investigated Limbaugh over allegations that he paid a former maid to buy prescription drugs for him over a prolonged period of time.

From Washington Blade

A third of the city’s workers are informal — street vendors, delivery men, maids.

From Washington Post

You can also summon Bonehilda, a fan-favorite skeletal maid from previous “Sims” games, to keep the house in order.

From Washington Post

After she returns home from her errands, Clarissa chats with her husband Richard, mends a tear in her party dress, is surprised when Peter, an old flame, comes to visit and, with her maid Lucy, makes sure that everything’s ready for the gathering.

From Washington Blade

They are maids, nannies, cooks, plumbers, laborers and clerks.

From Voice of San Diego

Her father and stepmother both beat her, and she was forced to become a maid in her own house.

From The Daily Beast

No wonder that of all the Bradys, it is the quintessential old maid who we miss the most.

From The Daily Beast

She works as a maid, scrubbing floors and toilets of the well-to-do families in West Hartford, Connecticut.

From The Daily Beast

As far as one of your nice-guy roles goes, my little sister loved Maid in Manhattan.

From The Daily Beast

I did as she bade me, and left her there when the maid came in.

From The Daily Beast

Finding him awake, he sat by his side and, with the earnestness of a nursery-maid, patted him off to slumber.

From Project Gutenberg

Why, he ordered his chamber-maid to bring him some soap and warm water, that he might wash the sour krout off his hands.

From Project Gutenberg

A trim maid then brought in the tea equipage, and Georgie did the honours with her usual unaffected grace.

From Project Gutenberg

When I am an old maid I am going to mount the platform and preach the training of the voice in childhood.

From Project Gutenberg

And Mrs. Haggard, after attempting to soothe the wounded feelings of her maid, directed her to accompany them.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• au pair
• chambermaid
• girl
• housemaid