footman

See also: Footman

English

A footman of the household of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Parts of a spinning wheel - H: footman

Etymology

From Middle English fotman, footman, foteman (“foot soldier, running footman”), from Old English *fōtman, *fōtmann (attested only as Old English fēþman, fēþmann (“footman”), equivalent to foot +‎ man.

Noun

footman (plural footmen)

(archaic) A soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.
A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc.
- 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, pages 251-252:
  […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
  And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […] : Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
Coordinate term: footwoman
(historical) A servant who runs in front of his master's carriage.
A metallic stand with four feet, for keeping anything warm before a fire.
A moth of the family Arctiidae (or subfamily Arctiinae); -- so called from its livery-like colors.
1. especially, the common footman (Manulea lurideola)
A bar that connects the treadle of a spinning wheel to the wheel.

Synonyms

(historical): runner, running footman
(moth): footman moth

Derived terms

speckled footman

Translations

soldier who marches and fights on foot — see foot soldier

male servant

Bulgarian: лакей (bg) m (lakej)
Dutch: lakei (nl)
Esperanto: lakeo
Finnish: miespalvelija (fi), lakeija (fi)
French: laquais (fr) m
German: Lakai (de) m
Greek: λακές (el) m (lakés)
Italian: valletto (it) m
Latin: pedisequus m
Plautdietsch: Schekjbenjel m

servant who runs in front of his master's carriage

Finnish: lakeija (fi)
Irish: giolla cóiste m
Spanish: lacayo m

metallic stand with four feet

moth of the subfamily Arctiinae

Finnish: aitosiilikäs

Manulea lurideola

Finnish: harmokeltasiipi

part of a spinning wheel

Finnish: liipotin (fi)

References

footman in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
footman in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
footman at OneLook Dictionary Search
Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “footman”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Middle English

Noun

footman

Alternative form of fotman