| English Dictionary |
HANDMAIDEN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Dictionary entry overview: What does handmaiden mean?
• HANDMAIDEN (noun)
The noun HANDMAIDEN has 2 senses:
1. in a subordinate position
2. a personal maid or female attendant
Familiarity information: HANDMAIDEN used as a noun is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
In a subordinate position
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
Context example:
the state cannot be a servant of the church
Hypernyms ("handmaiden" is a kind of...):
subordinateness; subsidiarity (secondary importance)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A personal maid or female attendant
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
handmaid; handmaiden
Hypernyms ("handmaiden" is a kind of...):
amah; housemaid; maid; maidservant (a female domestic)
Context examples
"Love seems to have no place in your Cosmos; in mine, Beauty is the handmaiden of Love."
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Of course it was beautiful; but there was something more than mere beauty in it, something more stingingly splendid which had made beauty its handmaiden.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"If a man is to do something more than human, he must have more than human powers." (Native American proverb, tribe unknown)
"I taught him archery everyday, and when he got good at it he throw an arrow at me." (Arabic proverb)
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." (Corsican proverb)