Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A native maid or nursemaid in India.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In the East Indies, a native waiting-woman or lady's-maid; a nurse.
Wiktionary
- n. A native female servant or maid, especially working for Europeans in South Asia.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A native nurse for children; also, a lady's maid.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (in India) a native nursemaid who looks after children
Etymologies
- Hindi āyā, from Portuguese aia, nursemaid, from Latin avia, grandmother; see awo- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“And yet, after watching the film last night, I remembered the following ayah from the Qur'an:”
“For which reason she called her ayah, while the Sahib was in his bath before dinner and said to her hurriedly:”
“India is the problem, and your ayah is the answer.”
“Desiring to know what was for why, and what was for stomach one day, the lady called the ayah to her and sought the interpretation thereof.”
The Khaki Kook Book A Collection of a Hundred Cheap and Practical Recipes Mostly from Hindustan
“Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated; In Surah al-Baqaraah there is an ayah which is the best of all the ayahs of the Qur'an.”
“In it there is an ayah which is the greatest in the Qur'an: Ayat al-Kursi”
“Sambutan berlangsung cukup hangat, sebagai seorang "ayah" beliau memberikan tuntunan pada anak-anaknya untuk terus melangkah maju dan berkembang.”
“This shows the temper of the people generally; my ayah is a very ignorant old woman, yet she respects her Emaum's memory. [”
“We were living in Kolkata and I was out for the day with Nilmoni, my ayah.”
“While it was my year of greatest confusion, it was also a time of practical lessons to supplement those of my daily ayah.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ayah’.
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Humours of Old Bombay
Terms that call to mind British India.
palkee, chee-chee, dorian, Hindoo, dinghee-wallah, garee, hamal, banghy, hookah-bardar, dak, ghat, mussalchee and 113 more...
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The sun never sets
viceroy, pondicherry, nabob, pukka sahib, ayah, bridge, crore, parsee, scandal point, madras, sepoy, kerala and 21 more...
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Maids
Maids of all stripes.
twait-shad, chambermaid, demoiselle, fille de chambre, housemaid, amah, lady's maid, femme-de-chambre, tire-woman, soubrette, comb-brush, abigail and 61 more...
chained_bear "If ladies did not want to eat in the mess a cook would bring them meals in their tent and they were usually attended by an ayah (maid) and other domestic servants who would sweep and clean their tents, shooing away unwanted visitors such as rats and cockroaches..." (p. 56)
"'I am not praising myself, dear Mama, but only wish you to know that it is quite possible for a lady to exert herself in this Country. I keep no ayah ladies' maid, which diminishes the expenses of our establishment not a little. Hannay often insists on my having one, but I will not indulge in such laziness unless obliged by ill health.'"
—Annabel Venning, Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present (London: Headline, 2005), 71 May 4, 2010