Middle English Dictionary Entry

servaunt n.
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Entry Info

Forms servaunt n. Also servaunte, -vant(e, -va(u)nd(e, -wa(u)nt, -uuaunte, -wand, -faunt, -vaun, -vent, -vont, -vond(e, -viant, -vient, cervaunt(e, siervaunt, sirvant, -vand, sarva(u)nt, -vand & (errors) saruaȝt, serunt; pl. serva(u)ntes, etc. & servantezs, -vandtzes, -vandzes, -vandezs, -vaunce, -vans, -vons.
Etymology OF servant, servent, CF sirvent, siervant, AF servaunt; for forms in -viant, -vient also cp. L serviens, -ientis. Forms in -nd are chiefly N, NEM, NWM, WM and are prob. due to the influence of servand, var. ppl. of serven v.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

Note: Cp. sergeaunt n.
1.
(a) One owing a duty of service to a master or lord; a laborer for hire; a male or female domestic servant, household servant; ~ man, ~ womman; (b) ~ familier (domestical, meinial), meinial (familier) ~, a household servant; ~ of (in) husbondrie, a hired farm laborer; (c) an attendant; an aid, a helper; ?also, a lady in waiting; (d) the word 'servant'; (e) used fig. or in fig. context; (f) in proverbs; (g) in polite or deferential address; ben ~, to be at (someone's) service.
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2.
(a) A vassal, retainer; (b) a soldier; an attendant upon a knight; ~ of armes, ? = sergeaunt of armes [s.v. sergeaunt n.2.(a)]; ?the King of Arms of the area south of the river Trent as subordinate to or attendant upon the Garter King of Arms; (c) a bailiff, subordinate agent, an administrative officer or agent to a lord; also, a tenant; (d) a workman's assistant, an apprentice; an assistant to a surgeon; an agent for a merchant; ~ hostiler (taillour), a servant to an innkeeper (tailor).
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3.
(a) A servant of God, Christ, or the Virgin Mary; one who is faithful to God's commandments or to Jewish or Christian precepts; (b) ~ of crist, a slave of Christ [quot.: c1384]; ~ of god (mi lord god, oure lord jesu crist), ~ of the chirche, ~ to crist, god(es ~, a faithful Christian; ~ of the lord, a faithful Jew; cristes ~, a faithful Christian; also, a slave of Christ [quot.: Bible SNT(1)]; oure lordes ~, a faithful Jew; also, a slave of Christ [quot.: Bible SNT(1)]; (c) ~ of the servauntes of god, a papal title; (d) a servant of or an adherent to a pagan deity; a servant of Venus as goddess of love; (e) fig. a servant of the devil, the world, or Antichrist; (f) a subscriber to a virtue or a vice.
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4.
(a) A servant to one's beloved, professed lover; ~ deth, (your) lover's death; (b) fig. a servant of Venus or Cupid, a lover; ~ to love, loves ~.
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5.
(a) A slave; -- also used of bees; ~ man (womman); bonde ~; (b) an unfree tenant, a serf; bonde ~; (c) in or having ref. to Bibl. contexts: a slave; ~ of servauntes, one in the most demeaning servitude; ~ maide (man, womman); knave (maide, womman) ~; thral ~; (d) fig. a slave of sin, riches, etc.; ~ to wombe, belli ~, a slave to one's belly, glutton; (e) with adjectival force: enslaved, unfree.
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6.
In surnames.
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