Your obedient servant

Your obedient 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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

2. One in a state of subjection or bondage. [1913 Webster]

Thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt. --Deut. v. 15. [1913 Webster]

3. A professed lover or suitor; a gallant. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

In my time a servant was I one. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

{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}. [1913 Webster +PJC]

Our betters tell us they are our humble servants, but understand us to be their slaves. --Swift. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • your obedient servant — very formal phrase used in the past as a way of ending a formal letter Thesaurus: expressions used in letters and correspondencesynonym letters and types of letterhyponym Main entry: obedient * * * dat …   Useful english dictionary

  • your obedient servant — your loyal worker …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Your humble 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • your obedient servant — very formal used in the past as a way of ending a formal letter …   English dictionary

  • Your most humble most obedient 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Servant of servants — 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • obedient — o|be|di|ent [əˈbi:diənt] adj [Date: 1200 1300; : Old French; Origin: Latin, present participle of oboedire; OBEY] 1.) always doing what you are told to do, or what the law, a rule etc says you must do ≠ ↑disobedient ▪ an obedient child obedient… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • obedient — adjective 1 always doing what you are told to do by your parents, by someone in authority etc: an obedient and dutiful child 2 your obedient servant old use used to end a very formal letter opposite disobedient obediently adverb: She obediently… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • servant —   Kanaka hana (male); wahine hana (female); kanaka lawelawe, kanaka, ōhua. See outcast, retainer.    ♦ Anciently, attendants to a chief were privileged blood relatives who might not be dismissed; kauā (Biblical, servant) were despised outcasts… …   English-Hawaiian dictionary

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