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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

With slow and measured tread they walked, while to their right minced Betty, a small abigail, swaying a lantern.

From The ghosts of their ancestors by Mills, Weymer Jay

Starting, the abigail took up the parcel, went to a cupboard, selected a bottle from a row and mixed some of its contents with water.

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

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 Bardsley, Charles W.

Old Sam's niece, Eliza Twells, stayed all day, and was transformed into a smiling abigail, not a little pleased with her promotion.

From Old Kensington by Thackeray, Miss

Had not the faithful abigail watched the pair for years?

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

England's Abigail Martin was first and set the standard.

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

Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, veterans of the Navy and Central Intelligence Agency respectively, were elected to the House in 2018 by claiming seats previously controlled by the GOP.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

For the filmed sequences, Weist worked with cinematographer and visual artist Abigail Raphael Collins, whose research has explored the role Hollywood has played in constructing public perceptions of American state power.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

As for Adams himself, without Jefferson as a colleague, with a Federalist cabinet filled with men loyal to Hamilton, he was left alone with Abigail, the only collaborator he could truly trust.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis