maidie

See also: Maidie

English

Alternative forms

• maidy

Etymology

From maid +‎ -ie.

Noun

maidie (plural maidies)

1. Diminutive of maid.
   • 1882, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, An Entirely Original Fairy Opera, in Two Acts, Entitled Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri, London: Chappell & Co., […], page 32:

     If you go in / You’re sure to win— / Yours will be the charming maidie: / Be your law / The ancient saw, / “Faint heart never won fair lady!”

   • 1893, J[ohn] P[atrick] Harrington, “Like a Lady”, in Wehman’s Collection of Songs, number 42, page 17, column 2:

     Like a lady, like a lady, like a highly educated little maidie; / When they praised her summer hats, by the way she answers “rats!” / You can tell she is ev’ry inch a lady, like a lady.

   • 1903, Alfred Colbeck, “The Equine God: A Strange Story of Adventure and Peril. […] Chapter XXV.—How We Came Home Again.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, page 515, column 2:

     There be a little maidie o’ mine down to Marazion, livin’ with her granny; […]

   • 1905, Philip Green Wright, “Fascination”, in The Dial of the Heart, Boston, Mass.: Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press, page 27:

     See, my little maidie, / On the promenade / ’Long the shore, more and more / Couples gayly clad.

   • 1921, Edward Clarence Figg, Sketches of the Figg Family from 1719 to 1921, Louisville, Ky.: Press of Moll & Company, […], page 116:

     Good-by, little maidie, I never shall stand / In your sunshine, my darling, my rose of the land!

   • 1960, Colette, chapter 12, in Antonia White, transl., Claudine Married, London: Secker and Warburg, page 161:

     Aren’t you going to come and see us, my little maidie?

   • 2010, Clare B. Dunkle, The House of Dead Maids, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, page 5:

     “Pleased to meet you, little maidie,” he said, shaking hands. “My name’s Arnby. You look a right canny lass. How old would you happen to be?” “I’m eleven, sir. […]”