maidy

English

Alternative forms

• maidie

Etymology

From maid +‎ -y.

Noun

maidy (plural maidies)

1. Diminutive of maid.
   • 1880, Thomas Hardy, The Trumpet-Major: A Tale, volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], page 57:

     You and maidy Anne must come in, if it be only for half an hour.

   • 1894 December, Edward A[ugustus] Jenks, “The Gardens of Noddy. (A Mother-Song.)”, in The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine Devoted to History, Biography, Literature, and State Progress, volume XVII, number 6, Concord, N.H.: […] the Granite Monthly Company, page 366:

     Mama is the sunlight and starlight—the lady / That makes the gardens sweeter and brighter / For every little baby boy and every little maidy / That listens to the song she is humming / (Down in the gardens where the birdies keep shady), / “Nid-nod-Noddy’s coming!”

   • 1902, James Creelman, Eagle Blood, Boston, Mass.: Lothrop Publishing Company, page 116:

     “[…] Poor little maidy, poor little beauty.” A tear rolled down his brown face as he stroked the small hands.

   • 1918 May, J[ohn] Middleton Murry, editor, The Letters of Katherine Mansfield, volume I, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, published 1929, page 155:

     She died when she was 25 and left a baby eight months old. So I took her and she has been my little maidy ever since then.

   • 1933 October, Estelle Urbahns, “Nancy Lee Plays the Game”, in Jane Palmer, editor, Wee Wisdom, volume XXXIX, number 3, Kansas City, Mo.: Unity School of Christianity, page 11:

     “Just one moment, little maidy!” called Mr. Betts. “Are you quite sure that this will be all right with your daddy?”

   • 1964 autumn, E. G. Lee, “Never a Word”, in H. L. Short, editor, The Hibbert Journal, volume 63, number 248, London: George Allen & Unwin; Boston, Mass.: The Beacon Press, page 23:

     He was only the farmer’s boy, mark you, and you wouldn’t expect much from him, especially with the little maidy there, down from the house.

   • 1972, Jean Ure, If You Speak Love, Ian Henry Publications, published 1976, →ISBN, page 123:

     ‘Hallo there, little maidy!’

   • 2007, Mary Hooper, At the House of the Magician, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 198:

     ‘You wished that we should meet this little maidy,’ said the queen.

   • 2012, Rachel Hartman, Seraphina, Doubleday Canada, →ISBN, pages 78, 109, and 145:

     “Are you all right, maidy?” asked the other, the shorter of the two, grabbing my upper arm urgently. […] “What did you say your name was, maidy?” […] A fair maidy tries to save him, heroic townsfolk fish him out of the drink, and then—triumphal music!

   • 2013, Ari Berk, Mistle Child (The Undertaken Trilogy), Simon & Schuster BFYR, →ISBN, page 227:

     “And this is not the first time you’ve helped a troubled little maidy into the world, is it? What a gallant you are,” added the third.

   • 2013, Elizabeth Essex, The Scandal Before Christmas, St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:

     Perhaps a little more time, young sir, to get to know the little maidy.

   • 2016, Anne Gracie, The Summer Bride, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Sensation, →ISBN, page 177:

     She shivered recalling how she’d been told by one of the girls that Mort had promised Daisy to a man who liked beating up girls, and who fancied himself a crippled little maidy.