servant

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ser·vant

(sûr′vənt)

1. One who is privately employed to perform domestic services.

2. One who is publicly employed to perform services, as for a government.

3. One who expresses submission, recognizance, or debt to another: your obedient servant.

[Middle English, from Old French, from present participle of servir, to serve; see serve.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

servant

(ˈsɜːvənt)

1. (Professions) a person employed to work for another, esp one who performs household duties

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) See public servant

[C13: via Old French, from servant serving, from servir to serve]

ˈservant-ˌlike adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

serv•ant

(ˈsɜr vənt)

n.

1. a person employed by another, esp. to perform domestic duties.

2. a person in the service of another.

3. a person employed by the government: a public servant.

[1175–1225; Middle English < Old French, n. use of present participle of servir to serve; see -ant]

serv′ant•hood`, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	servant - a person working in the service of another (especially in the household) retainer worker - a person who works at a specific occupation; "he is a good worker" body servant - a valet or personal maid cabin boy - a young man acting as a servant on a ship domestic, domestic help, house servant - a servant who is paid to perform menial tasks around the household factotum - a servant employed to do a variety of jobs familiar - a person attached to the household of a high official (as a pope or bishop) who renders service in return for support flunkey, flunky, lackey - a male servant (especially a footman) major-domo, seneschal - the chief steward or butler of a great household manservant - a man servant menial - a domestic servant scullion - a kitchen servant employed to do menial tasks (especially washing) servant girl, serving girl - a girl who is a servant
	2.	servant - in a subordinate position; "theology should be the handmaiden of ethics"; "the state cannot be a servant of the church" handmaid, handmaiden subordinateness, subsidiarity - secondary importance

servant

noun attendant, domestic, slave, maid, help, helper, retainer, menial, drudge, lackey, vassal, skivvy (chiefly Brit.), servitor (archaic), varlet (archaic), liegeman She couldn't lift a spoon without a servant.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

خَادِمخادِممُسْتَخْدَم، مُوَظَّف مَدَني

sluhaslužkastátní úředník-ice

tjenertjenestemandhusassistent

Beamte Diener Dienerin Dienstbote Domestik

υπηρέτης

criado sirviente funcionario

teener

palvelija

domestique servant serviteur

slugaslužavka

szolga

òjónnopinber starfsmaîur

domestico servo servitore domèstica

使用人

하인

darbinieksierēdniskalponekalpotājskalps

služabnik

tjänare

คนรับใช้

hizmetçi memur

người hầu

仆人佣人公务员

servant

[ˈsɜːvənt]

A. N

1. (domestic) → criado/a m/f, sirviente/a m/f, muchacho/a m/f, mucamo/a m/f (S. Cone)
the servants (collectively) → la servidumbre

2. (fig) → servidor(a) m/f
your devoted servant; your humble servant → un servidor, servidor de usted
your obedient servant (in letters) → suyo afmo., atento y seguro servidor
see also civil B

B. CPD servant girl N → criada f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

servant

[ˈsɜː^rv^ənt] n

(= person) → domestique mf
They used to have servants → Ils avaient des domestiques.
domestic servant → employé(e) m/f de maison

(= tool) to be the servant of sth/sb → être au service de qch/qn
Technology must be our servant, not our master → La technologie doit être à notre service et non l'inverse.

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

servant

n (lit, fig) → Diener(in) m(f); (also servant girl) → Dienstmädchen nt; (domestic) → Bedienstete(r) mf, → Dienstbote m → /-botin f; to have servants → Bedienstete or Diener haben; servants’ quarters → Gesinderäume pl (Hist), → Dienstbotenräume pl; your devoted or humble or obedient servant (old) → Ihr ergebenster or untertänigster Diener (old) ? public servant, civil servant

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

servant

[ˈsɜːv/ənt] n (domestic) → domestico/a (fig) (of the public, one's country) → servitore m

servant

(ˈsəːvənt) noun

1. a person who is hired to work for another, especially in helping to run a house.

2. a person employed by the government, or in the administration of a country etc. a public servant; civil servants.

servant

→ خَادِم sluha tjener Dienstbote υπηρέτης criado palvelija serviteur sluga domestico 使用人 하인 bediende tjener służący criado слуга tjänare คนรับใช้ hizmetçi người hầu 仆人

References in classic literature ?

There were none who knew Messer Antonio da Venafro as the servant of Pandolfo Petrucci, Prince of Siena, who would not consider Pandolfo to be a very clever man in having Venafro for his servant.

But to enable a prince to form an opinion of his servant there is one test which never fails; when you see the servant thinking more of his own interests than of yours, and seeking inwardly his own profit in everything, such a man will never make a good servant, nor will you ever be able to trust him; because he who has the state of another in his hands ought never to think of himself, but always of his prince, and never pay any attention to matters in which the prince is not concerned.

View in context

Then we must have a servant. This seemed only less horrible.

From my earliest days I had seen servants. The manse had a servant, the bank had another; one of their uses was to pounce upon, and carry away in stately manner, certain naughty boys who played with me.

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Magdalen seated herself at the opposite side of the table, and moved the candles, so as to obtain a clear and uninterrupted view of her servant's face.

"Could you teach the duties to another servant?" asked Magdalen.

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But it is a desperate evil, in a servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic.

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She was so good as to add, that I was her trusted adviser, as well as her old servant, and that in anything which related to the household I was the person whom it might be most profitable to consult.

"My good servants, who have been with me for years, have, I am ashamed to say, had their boxes and rooms searched already by the other officer.

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As these games were very silently conducted, notwithstanding the magnitude of the interests involved, Mr Swiveller began to think that on those evenings when Mr and Miss Brass were out (and they often went out now) he heard a kind of snorting or hard-breathing sound in the direction of the door, which it occurred to him, after some reflection, must proceed from the small servant, who always had a cold from damp living.

I didn't mean any harm indeed, upon my word I didn't,' cried the small servant, struggling like a much larger one.

View in context

Then the cook sent three servants after them, who were to run and overtake the children.