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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
handmaiden
noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ St. Thomas Aquinas believed that reason should serve as the handmaiden of faith.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He poured it out upon the little sons and daughters, and servants and handmaidens...
▪ In his workshop he has handmaidens he has forged out of gold who can move and who help him in his work.
▪ One of her handmaidens told the suit ors and they discovered her in the very act.
▪ Science had always been and continued to remain the handmaiden of the great Eastern religions.
▪ She was too young to be setting herself up as the devoted handmaiden to the great man.
▪ The notes refer to other dancers representing handmaidens, a bird and winds: rather complex for so short a work.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Handmaiden

Handmaid \Hand"maid`\ (h[a^]nd"m[=a]d`), Handmaiden \Hand"maid`en\ (h[a^]nd"m[=a]d`'n), n. A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant.

2. Something or someone serving in a subordinate position; as, theology should be the handmaiden of ethics. [WordNet sense 1]

Syn: handmaid, servant.

Wiktionary
handmaiden

n. (alternative form of handmaid English)

WordNet
handmaiden
  1. n. in a subordinate position; "theology should be the handmaiden of ethics"; "the state cannot be a servant of the church" [syn: handmaid, servant]

  2. a personal maid or female attendant [syn: handmaid]

Wikipedia
Handmaiden

A handmaiden, handmaid or maidservant is a personal maid or female servant, or someone whose primary role is to serve or assist. The term is not commonly used nowadays; the terms maid or domestic worker being more commonly used.

In the Hebrew Bible, the term handmaid is applied to a female slave who serves her mistress, as in the case of Hagar being described as Sarai's handmaid, Zilpah being Leah's handmaid and Bilhah as Rachel's handmaid. In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children). The use in the Torah of the prefix "to", as in "gave to wife", may indicate that the wife is a concubine or inferior wife. The text repeats that these people remain handmaids (i.e., slaves) of their mistress though they are also the mistress's husband's concubine.

Usage examples of "handmaiden".

When our enemies did discover the subterfuge involving young Sir Berit, Zalasta did spirit thy wife and her handmaiden away under cover of darkness.

When a handmaiden brought refreshments, they settled on comfortable couches and Tebris and Cydippe took turns explaining what had happened.

Then the Second Mistress led Natasha out of the room, leaving her handmaidens to their care of the newest mistress of the Coven.

To her the handmaiden spoke, pointing to the batrachians who stood, paws and forearms melted beneath the robes they had gathered.

NSA looks for bribery and eavesdrops on trade missions, there is no evidence that it is a handmaiden to corporate America.

I figured it was my own special burden, so I done it with nary a complaint, and pretty soon we had three full eight-hour shifts of handmaidens toiling away in the service of the Lord, and an awful lot of the windows in the other buildings were temporarily boarded up.

The other buildings the handmaidens had, and the two daughters of Aeetes, Chalciope and Medea.

And going forth she mounted the swift chariot, and with her went two handmaidens on each side.

Queen of Honce-the-Bear was certainly feeling physically better now, and so she was enthusiastic when one of her handmaidens appeared, bearing a tray of food.

After all, my handmaidens willingly and knowingly make the sacrifices that are asked of them.

When they were brought up to the mountain, they made their wayes homeward to their owne houses, and murmured with envy that they bare against Psyches, saying, behold cruell and contrary fortune, behold how we, borne all of one Parent, have divers destinies : but especially we that are the elder two bee married to strange husbands, made as handmaidens, and as it were banished from our Countrey and friends.

Then he disguised himself as a lame peddler and he approached the handmaidens with some sort of tale -- he worshipped the princess from afar, for example, and would give anything to own something that she had touched -- and he offered to give the marvelous trinkets to the maidens if they would do him one small favor.

Ranged on each side of her were the Handmaidens of Zaa, except at the place to the immediate right of Dian, where the pale, beautiful Helene sat.

The aged handmaiden of Zaa was upset and obviously disturbed by this disturbance beyond the door.

Holding the fiercely burning torches high, the two files of chanting handmaidens split, one going to the left, and one to the right of the smooth, glistening stone altar slab.