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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

And Toinon, foster-sister and confidential abigail, had absolutely betrothed herself in secret to this abandoned wretch!

From The Maid of Honour, Vol. 1 (of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Wingfield, Lewis

I have prepared, however, another carriage for the abigail, and all the trumpery which our wives drag along with them.

From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 3 With His Letters and Journals by Moore, Thomas

"The two yaller pullets have slipped you; the abigail mizzled to the funeral with your niece, and t'other dell must have smelt us, and hopped the twig."

From The Entailed Hat Or, Patty Cannon's Times by Townsend, George Alfred

The anxious abigail felt that they were in precisely the same harrowing position as Sister Anne and Fatima.

From The Maid of Honour (Vol. 3 of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Wingfield, Lewis

Her cheeks flamed before the sharp eyes of the abigail, and then flamed again with scorn at her own folly.

From The Fortunes of the Farrells by Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.