lady's maid

American

noun

a maid who is a woman's personal attendant, as in dressing.

lady's maid British

noun

a personal servant to a woman, esp in matters of dress and toilet

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lady's maid

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The composers of two songs in the vernacular span the social spectrum: One, playfully elegant, is by Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, and the other is by Martha Baerts, a lady’s maid.

From New York Times • Aug. 24, 2022

His father, Ernest, worked as a milkman while his mother, Ethel, had been a lady's maid before her marriage.

From BBC • Aug. 10, 2022

"It's cyclical," explains star Raquel Cassidy, who plays a lady's maid in the franchise.

From Salon • Jun. 28, 2022

Herbert George Wells was born in 1866 to an unsuccessful shopkeeper and a former lady’s maid.

From Washington Post • Nov. 2, 2021

If it means playing lady’s maid to Katherine in the meantime, so be it.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023