yeoman

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“
A gentleman usher acted as butler, and a yeoman was always at hand to keep out strange dogs, snuff candles, and light to bed the guests, who were not always in a condition to find their way upstairs without his help.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun An attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household.
  2. noun A yeoman of the guard.
  3. noun A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy.
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Examples (50)

  • A yeoman was arraigned for the murder of a Catholic named Macvournagh: three respectable, uncontradicted witnesses deposed that they saw the prisoner load, take aim, fire at, and kill the said Macvournagh. —  Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6)
  • The yeoman was a jolly-looking fellow called Arthur, and Ned and I took to him immediately. —  AHMM,July-August2008
  • He was introduced as one who had “done yeoman service for the young party (the Republican).” The word yeoman was under stood in the old English sense of the small independent farmers. —  The Lincoln Story Book
  • A gentleman usher acted as butler, and a yeoman was always at hand to keep out strange dogs, snuff candles, and light to bed the guests, who were not always in a condition to find their way upstairs without his help. —  A Forgotten Hero Not for Him
  • The stout English yeoman was as proud in his way as was the Marquis of Elverston It is he--he, that Lord Reginald, who has brought me to this!" —  The Rival Crusoes
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English yoman, perhaps from Old English *gēaman, from Old Frisian gāman, villager : gā, region, district + man, man; see man-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English yoman; from Middle English yoman, yomon, ʒhoman, yeman, ʒeman, ʒheman; not found in Anglo-Saxon, but prob. existent as *gāman, *geáman, gǣman (= OFries. gāman, gāmon, a villager (cf. gāfolk, people of a village), = Middle Dutch goymannen, arbitrators, = Icelandic gæimadhr, a franklin—rare, and prob. from Anglo-Saxon); from Anglo-Saxon *gā, *geá, *gē, a district or village, as in comp. ǣl-gē, ‘province of eels,’ Ohtga-gā, Noxga-gā (= OFries. gā, gō (plural gāe), a district village, = Middle Dutch gouwe (in comp. goo-, goy-, go-), a village, field, Dutch gouw, gouwe, a province, = Middle Low German gō, Low German goë, gohe, in comp. go-, a district, = Old High German gowi, gouwi, gewi, Middle High German gou, göu, German gau, a province, German dial. gäu, the country, = Gothic (Moesogothic) gawi, a district), + man, man. The word has been erroneously explained otherwise: (a) A contraction of a supposed Middle English *yeme-man, ‘a person in charge,’ from yeme, care, + man. (b) from Anglo-Saxon iuman, a forefather, ancient, from iu, of yore, + man. (c) from Anglo-Saxon iung man, geong man, young man. (d) from Anglo-Saxon guma, man. (e) from Anglo-Saxon gemǣne, common. These attempts are all wrong. That which refers to Anglo-Saxon iung man, geong man, finds some color in the use of iung men as a quasi-technical name for a body-guard; but while the sense might seem to suit, it is impossible to derive Middle English ʒo- or ʒe- from Anglo-Saxon geong, iung. The proper modern spelling is yoman, the eo being apparently due to an attempt to represent in one spelling the two variants yeman and yoman; the eo has no etymological justification, as it has to some extent in people.
 

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/ˈyoʊmən/
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