Maid

Pronunciation

• IPA: /meɪd/
• Rhymes: -eɪd
• Homophones: made

Origin

Middle English mayde, maide, abbreviation of maiden.

Full definition of maid

Noun

1. (dated or poetic) A girl or an unmarried young woman; maiden.Note - maid is often used in the common or species names of flowering plants.
2. A female servant or cleaner (short for maidservant).
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 2, 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, â€¦—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.
3. (archaic) A virgin of either gender.
• 1380+, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury TalesCrist was a mayde and shapen as a man.
• 1601, William Shakespeare, Twelfth NightYou are betrothed both to a maid and man.

Synonyms

• (young female person) damsel, maiden
• (female servant) handmaiden, lady-in-waiting, maidservant
• (female cleaner) chambermaid in a hotel, charlady in a house, charwoman in a house

Anagrams

• amid, diam, diam.