HOUSEMAID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does housemaid mean? 

• HOUSEMAID (noun)
  The noun HOUSEMAID has 1 sense:

1. a female domestic

  Familiarity information: HOUSEMAID used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOUSEMAID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A female domestic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

amah; housemaid; maid; maidservant

Hypernyms ("housemaid" is a kind of...):

domestic; domestic help; house servant (a servant who is paid to perform menial tasks around the household)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "housemaid"):

chambermaid; fille de chambre (a maid who is employed to clean and care for bedrooms (now primarily in hotels))

handmaid; handmaiden (a personal maid or female attendant)

lady's maid (a maid who is a lady's personal attendant)

parlormaid; parlourmaid (a maid in a private home whose duties are to care for the parlor and the table and to answer the door)

 Context examples 

As soon as she dared leave the table she hurried away to her own room; but the housemaids were busy in it, and she was obliged to come down again.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"Is Mr. Laurence in?" asked Jo, of a housemaid, who was coming downstairs.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She was quite shocked when I asked her whether wine was allowed at the second table, and she has turned away two housemaids for wearing white gowns.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I sent the housemaid for the police and put the investigation into their hands at once.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And as for James, you may be very sure he will always like going to Randalls, because of his daughter's being housemaid there.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

One other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the housemaid.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Bessie went into the housemaid's apartment, which was near.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At the sight of Mr. Utterson, the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering; and the cook, crying out “Bless God! it’s Mr. Utterson,” ran forward as if to take him in her arms.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She is an excellent housemaid, and works very well at her needle.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

On the other hand, there were the fox terriers, a score of them at least, who yelped fearful promises at Toots and Ysabel looking out of the windows at them and protected by a legion of housemaids armed with brooms and mops.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)