maid

American  

[meyd] / meɪd /

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.

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maid British  

/ meɪd /

noun

1. archaic  a young unmarried girl; maiden

2. 1. a female servant

   2. ( in combination )

      a housemaid

3. a spinster

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Other Word Forms

• maidish adjective
• maidishness noun
• submaid noun
• undermaid noun

Etymology

Origin of maid

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

Example Sentences

Even if they don’t have robot maids, surely they automate as many tasks as possible, right?

From The Wall Street Journal

He’s a good pick to direct this adaptation of Freida McFadden’s dark and pleasingly pulpy bestseller about a maid who moves into a family’s posh home and makes a major mess.

From Los Angeles Times

“We urgently need to close our borders,” said Yasna Monroy, a maid in the capital, Santiago, who fears for the safety of her two daughters and grandchildren.

From The Wall Street Journal

She took jobs in the low-wage services sector, working first as a waitress in Florida, then a maid in Maine and finally as a retail associate at a Walmart store in Minnesota.

From The Wall Street Journal

But Hindemith’s “Sancta Susanna,” with its startling love affair between a nun and her maid servant, titillated German audiences at the start of the roaring twenties, and still can.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• au pair
• chambermaid
• girl
• housemaid