maid

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /meɪd/ See IPA manual

Freq #2699

Meanings

1

noun
An adult or adolescent female servant or cleaner (short for maidservant). (In feudal times this could be anyone from a high-ranking assistant to a low-ranking cleaner.)

She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
2

noun
A virgin, now female but originally one of either gender.

You are betrothed both to a maid and man.
3

verb
To serve as lady's maid to, to wait upon.

And as she did so there came to her a comfortable recollection, an incident of her long-past youth, in the days when she, then Ellen Green, had maided a dear old lady.
4

noun
an unmarried girl (especially a virgin)

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an adult or adolescent... ancillachambermaidcharladycharwomancleaneresscleaning ladyhandmaidenlady-in-waiting

4 noun · an unmarried girl... maiden

Word family

Forms maids

Derived forms barmaidbetween-maidbondmaidbridemaidbridesmaid chambermaidcookmaiddairymaiddoormaiddwarfmaidelf-maidelfmaid

Appears in

Proverbs (1)

See all

Like mistress, like maid

Etymology

From Middle English mayde, maide, abbreviation of Middle English maiden from Old English mæġden (Old English mǣden). Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs (“girl, virgin”).

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# maid

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /meɪd/
**Frequency rank:** 2699

## Meanings
1. An adult or adolescent female servant or cleaner (short for maidservant). (In feudal times this could be anyone from a high-ranking assistant to a low-ranking cleaner.)
2. A virgin, now female but originally one of either gender.
3. To serve as lady's maid to, to wait upon.
4. an unmarried girl (especially a virgin)

## Examples
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
- You are betrothed both to a maid and man.
- And as she did so there came to her a comfortable recollection, an incident of her long-past youth, in the days when she, then Ellen Green, had maided a dear old lady.

## Derived Forms
- barmaid
- between-maid
- bondmaid
- bridemaid
- bridesmaid
- chambermaid
- cookmaid
- dairymaid
- doormaid
- dwarfmaid
- elf-maid
- elfmaid

## Etymology
From Middle English mayde, maide, abbreviation of Middle English maiden from Old English mæġden (Old English mǣden). Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs (“girl, virgin”).

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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