handmaiden

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a female personal attendant or servant

   The queen entrusted the sealed letter to her handmaiden.

2. 2
   noun

   a person, activity, or institution that serves or supports another in a subordinate role

   In the essay, rhetoric is treated as the handmaiden of politics.

From Middle English handmaiden, a compound of hand + maiden, originally a woman personally at hand to serve another. The figurative sense applies that subordinate service to ideas or institutions.

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