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• abigail
  abigail

  noun

  a lady's maid.
• Abigail
  Abigail

  noun

  (in the Bible) the wife of Nabal and later of David.

abigail

¹ American  

[ab-i-geyl] / ˈæb ɪˌgeɪl /

noun

1. a lady's maid.

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Abigail ² American  

[ab-i-geyl] / ˈæb ɪˌgeɪl /

noun

1. (in the Bible) the wife of Nabal and later of David.

2. a first name: from a Hebrew word meaning “joy of the father.”

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Abigail British  

/ ˈæbɪˌɡeɪl /

noun

1. Old Testament the woman who brought provisions to David and his followers and subsequently became his wife (I Samuel 25:1–42)

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Etymology

Origin of abigail

1645–55; after Abigail, name of attendant in play The Scornful Lady (1610), by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abigail Abigail

And, of course, the abigail swore to the fact.

From Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

And Ugly, her abigail, she had her say, too?

From Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature by Charles W. Bardsley

It is customarily asserted that abigail, as a cant term for a waiting-maid, only arose after Abigail Hill, the Duchess of Marlborough’s cousin, became waiting-woman to the queen, and supplanted her kinswoman.

From Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature by Charles W. Bardsley

"He is gone at last," said the abigail, sipping her glass; "and here is to his good journey."

From The Abbot by Sir Walter Scott

Her abigail reported that Mrs. Gutheridge had a set of night curls for sleeping in.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster

Now, after Welsh identical twins Abigail and Emily Roper won bronze medals within a couple of hours of each other on Monday, Evans has delivered gold.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

In November 2025, Abigail Spanberger won Virginia’s governorship in a landslide after promising to make data centers “pay their own way and their fair share.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

Abigail Spanberger, now governor of Virginia, told her colleagues on a roiling conference call after the 2020 election.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, instead referenced Khalil’s continuing immigration case, saying he allegedly misrepresented himself and committed fraud to obtain a student visa.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Abigail ran though the bayou alone, so no one could really say what she experienced.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold