Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

maid

 
Dictionary: maid   (mād) pronunciation
n.
    1. An unmarried girl or woman.
    2. A virgin.
  1. A woman servant.
  2. A housemaid or chambermaid.

[Middle English maide, from Old English mægden.]


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

(Massive Array of Idle Disks) Active archiving that uses disk drives instead of tape. Most of the drives in a MAID array are idle most of the time, but can be revved up and read faster than searching sequentially through magnetic tape. MAID libraries typically do not use RAID technology because each read and write in most RAID configurations uses several drives. The concept behind MAID is to have an enormous amount of data quickly available at the least cost, and spinning disks require power and generate heat, which requires cooling.

Some Active, Some Passive

A MAID system may be built with a small ratio of spinning disks that serve as a cache for the non-spinning, passive disks. If a request is not found in the cache, the appropriate passive disks are powered up. See active archiving, WORO and RAID.

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your iPhone/iTouch

Antonyms: maid
Top

n

Definition: woman servant
Antonyms: butler


Word Tutor: maid
Top
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A female domestic servant.

pronunciation When my mom got sick, she hired a maid to help her with the housework.

Wikipedia: Maid
Top
Maid is also a shortened form of "maiden", an archaic word for an unmarried woman or a virgin.
MAID is also a acronym of Massive array of idle disks
Maid is also a Bosniac Name
Smedley maid illustration 1906

A maidservant or in current usage maid is a female employed in domestic service. Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was always the case for many households. In the Western world, comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, usually compromising on periodic cleaners. In less developed nations, very large differences in the income of urban and rural households and between different socio-economic classes, fewer educated women and limited opportunities for working women ensures a labour source for domestic work.

Maids perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, walking the family dog, and taking care of children. In many places in some poor countries, maids often take on the role of a nurse in taking care of the elderly and people with disabilities. Many maids are required by their employers to wear a uniform.

Types of maid

Maids traditionally have a fixed position in the hierarchy of the large households, and although there is overlap between definitions (dependant on the size of the household) the positions themselves would typically be rigidly adhered to. The usual types of maid are:

  • Head house parlour-maid (alternatively known as head housemaid or head parlour-maid); answerable to the housekeeper or butler.
  • House parlour-maids (or simply housemaid), or under house parlour-maid, if there is only one; answerable to the head house parlour-maid or in the case of an under house parlour-maid, to the house parlour-maid.
  • Chambermaids (also known as housemaids) — a chambermaid is a maid who specifically cleans and cares for bedrooms, and is a more common term in hotels rather than households.
  • Nursery maid — specifically for looking after children; generally answerable to the nanny.
  • Kitchen maid; answerable to the cook.
  • Between maid — a potentially difficult rôle picking up miscellaneous jobs and (problematically) answerable to the housekeeper, butler, and cook.
  • Scullery maid (also known as the cinder maid); answerable to the cook.
  • Lady's maid — outside of the normal hierarchy, the lady's maid was a senior servant who reported directly to the lady of the house.

However, in many households a single Maid-of-all-work or skivvy was all the staff there was. In several developing countries, working as a maid is still one of the main possibilities a poor young girl may have to earn an income.

In popular culture

One of the most in-depth and enduring representations of the lives of several levels of maid was seen in the 1970s television drama (set in 1900s–1930s Britain), Upstairs, Downstairs.

See also

Maid cleaning the fireplace



Translations: Maid
Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - tjenestepige, pige, ungmø

idioms:

  • maid of honor    (første) brudepige

Nederlands (Dutch)
dienstmeisje, jonge vrouw, maagd, oude vrijster

Français (French)
n. - domestique, servante, pucelle (arch)

idioms:

  • maid of honour    demoiselle d'honneur

Deutsch (German)
n. - Maid, unverheiratete Frau, Dienstmagd

idioms:

  • maid of honour    Hof od. Ehrendame, (Am) Brautjungfer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - υπηρέτρια, θεραπαινίδα, (απαρχ. ή ποιητ.) κόρη, κοπέλα

idioms:

  • maid of honor    Δεσποινίς επί των Τιμών, παράνυμφος, είδος τάρτας με κρέμα

Italiano (Italian)
donzella, cameriera

idioms:

  • maid of honor    damigella d'onore

Português (Portuguese)
n. - empregada (f), donzela (f)

idioms:

  • maid of honor    variedade de bolo de queijo (m), dama de honra (f), madrinha (f)

Русский (Russian)
девушка, служанка, старая дева

idioms:

  • maid of honor    фрейлина

Español (Spanish)
n. - muchacha, criada, doncella, doméstica, sirvienta

idioms:

  • maid of honour    dama de honor

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hembiträde, flicka, ungmö

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
少女, 女仆, 未婚女子

idioms:

  • maid of honor    宫女, 女傧相

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 少女, 女僕, 未婚女子

idioms:

  • maid of honor    宮女, 女儐相

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 소녀, 처녀, 하녀, 식모, 미혼여성

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - お手伝い, 女中, 少女

idioms:

  • maid of honor    女官, 侍女, 花嫁の付き添い

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خادمه, عذراء, بكر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נערה, בחורה, עוזרת, משרתת‬


 
 
Learn More
abigail
Maid Marian (Robin Hood's sweetheart)
mermaid

What are guns maid for? Read answer...
Who is Maid Marian? Read answer...
Who maid runescape? Read answer...

Help us answer these
Maid of honour?
What is the salary for a maid?
What harmful the maid?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2009 Computer Language Company Inc.  All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved.
eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Maid" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more