housemaid

See also: house maid and house-maid

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From house +‎ maid.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhaʊsˌmeɪd/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

housemaid (plural housemaids)

  1. A female domestic worker responsible for cleaning a house.
    • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles:
      With a dramatic gesture, he pointed to a large splash of candle grease on the floor by the writing-table. "It must have been done since yesterday, otherwise a good housemaid would have at once removed it with blotting-paper and a hot iron. […]”
  2. (derogatory) A housewife.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

housemaid (third-person singular simple present housemaids, present participle housemaiding, simple past and past participle housemaided)

  1. To be a housemaid.
  2. To wait on someone hand on foot, to watch them.
  3. To clean, as a housemaid.
    • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 32:
      Giving that up, she took a broom and a duster and went upstairs to housemaid Mrs Dibble's bedroom, with her head tied up in a coloured scarf. It was a dusty, snuffy job, for penuriousness in Mrs Dibble refused to throw anything away, including dirt, and if anything fell on the floor it remained there.
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