SERVANT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Servant

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/sˈərvənt/ Listen

noun

Servant n.

One who serves, or does services, voluntarily or on compulsion; a person who is employed by another for menial offices, or for other labor, and is subject to his command; a person who labors or exerts himself for the benefit of another, his master or employer; a subordinate helper. "A yearly hired servant." "Men in office have begun to think themselves mere agents and servants of the appointing power, and not agents of the government or the country." Note: In a legal sense, stewards, factors, bailiffs, and other agents, are servants for the time they are employed in such character, as they act in subordination to others. So any person may be legally the servant of another, in whose business, and under whose order, direction, and control, he is acting for the time being.

One in a state of subjection or bondage. "Thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt."

A professed lover or suitor; a gallant. (Obs.) "In my time a servant was I one."

Servant of servants, one debased to the lowest condition of servitude.

Your humble servant, or Your obedient servant, phrases of civility formerly often used in closing a letter, now archaic; at one time such phrases were exaggerated to include Your most humble, most obedient servant. "Our betters tell us they are our humble servants, but understand us to be their slaves."

verb

Servant v. t. To subject. (Obs.)

See images of 'Servant'

Etymology of 'Servant'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Servant" Quotes from Famous Books

... through their various trials, at home and in a land of strangers, I have received much genuine pleasure and lasting profit; and that the reader, likewise, may be greatly pleased and benefited, is the sincere desire of his unworthy servant, Erasmus W. Jones. ...

— The Young Captives - A Story of Judah and Babylon • Erasmus W. Jones

... there had been times when need forced her into straits where her lot seemed to her almost as low as that of the slave-like wives of the tenements, made her almost think she would be nearly as well off were she the wife, companion, butt, servant and general vent to some one dull and distasteful provider of a poor living. But now she no longer felt either degraded or heart sick and heart weary. And when he passed the worst crisis ...

— Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise • David Graham Phillips

... of them are we going to choose? It's the servant problem that's the real trouble, you know. They simply won't cope with ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, January 14, 1920 • Various

... that we scarcely had time to witness this sad sight. But it has since returned to my memory, and the pale face of Odile lying on the ample shoulders of the good servant still makes a vivid impression upon my memory, resembling the poor lamb presenting its throat to the knife without a complaint, dying with ...

— The Man-Wolf and Other Tales • Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian

... said the rider. "I profess that in all this dust and smoke I did not at first recognize you. I am your obedient servant. If my foe, sir, then I dub you my dearest foe! To ...

— The Long Roll • Mary Johnston

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