servant
    n 1: a person working in the service of another (especially in
         the household) [syn: servant, retainer]
    2: in a subordinate position; "theology should be the handmaiden
       of ethics"; "the state cannot be a servant of the church"
       [syn: handmaid, handmaiden, servant]

Servant \Serv"ant\, n. [OE. servant, servaunt, F. servant, a &
   p. pr. of servir to serve, L. servire. See Serve, and cf.
   Sergeant.]
   1. 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." --Lev. xxv. 53.
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            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. --D.
                                                  Webster.
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   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. --Chitty.
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   2. One in a state of subjection or bondage.
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            Thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt. --Deut. v.
                                                  15.
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   3. A professed lover or suitor; a gallant. [Obs.]
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            In my time a servant was I one.       --Chaucer.
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   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.
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            Our betters tell us they are our humble servants,
            but understand us to be their slaves. --Swift.
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Servant \Serv"ant\, v. t.
   To subject. [Obs.] --Shak.
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