1. a female servant or attendant
Usage: archaic or literary
2. something that serves or supports another thing
Usage: figurative

Examples

• The queen’s handmaiden helped her dress for the ceremony.
• In medieval times, noble ladies often had handmaidens to assist them.
• The princess dismissed her handmaiden for the evening.
• Science should be the handmaiden of progress, not its master.
• Technology serves as a handmaiden to modern education.
• Art was once considered the handmaiden of religion.
• The loyal handmaiden never left her mistress’s side.