yeoman

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: yeo=man

CIDE DICTIONARY

yeoman, n. [OE. yoman, \'f4eman, \'f4oman; of uncertain origin; perhaps the first, syllable is akin to OFries. gā district, region, G. gau, OHG. gewi, gouwi, Goth. gawi.

•  A common man, or one of the commonly of the first or most respectable class; a freeholder; a man free born.  [1913 Webster]

  " A yeoman in England is considered as next in order to the gentry. The word is little used in the United States, unless as a title in law proceedings and instruments, designating occupation, and this only in particular States."  [1913 Webster]
•  A servant; a retainer.  [1913 Webster]

  "A yeman hadde he and servants no mo."  [1913 Webster]
•  A yeoman of the guard; also, a member of the yeomanry cavalry.  [1913 Webster]
•  An interior officer under the boatswain, gunner, or carpenters, charged with the stowage, account, and distribution of the stores.  [1913 Webster]

Yeoman of the guard, one of the bodyguard of the English sovereign, consisting of the hundred yeomen, armed with partisans, and habited in the costume of the sixteenth century. They are members of the royal household.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

yeoman, n. (pl. -men)
1 esp. hist. a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate.
2 hist. a person qualified by possessing free land of an annual value of 40 shillings to serve on juries, vote for the knight of the shire, etc.
3 Brit. a member of the yeomanry force.
4 hist. a servant in a royal or noble household.
5 (in full yeoman of signals) a petty officer in the Navy, concerned with visual signalling.
6 US a petty officer performing clerical duties on board ship.

Idiom

Yeoman of the Guard
1 a member of the British sovereign's bodyguard.
2 (in general use) a warder in the Tower of London. yeoman (or yeoman's) service efficient or useful help in need. Yeoman Usher Brit. the deputy of Black Rod.

Derivative

yeomanly adj.

Etymology

ME yoman, yeman, etc., prob. f. YOUNG + MAN

THESAURUS

yeoman

Bauer, Ganymede, Hebe, agriculturalist, agriculturist, agrologist, agronomist, airline hostess, airline stewardess, attendant, bakehead, batman, bellboy, bellhop, bellman, black gang, bodyguard, boilerman, bootblack, boots, bungs, cabin boy, caddie, chips, chore boy, coffee-planter, collective farm worker, commissary steward, complement, convoy, copyboy, creature, crofter, cropper, cultivator, cupbearer, deckhand, deckie, dependent, dirt farmer, dry farmer, errand boy, errand girl, escort, farm laborer, farmer, farmhand, feudatory, fireman, flunky, follower, footboy, gentleman farmer, gentleman-at-arms, gofer, granger, grower, guards, guardsman, gun loader, gunner, hand, hanger-on, harvester, harvestman, haymaker, homager, hospital steward, hostess, husbandman, inferior, kibbutznik, kolkhoznik, kulak, lackey, landing signalman, liege, liege man, mail orderly, minion, muzhik, myrmidon, navigator, office boy, office girl, oiler, orderly, page, peasant, peasant holder, peon, picker, planter, plowboy, plowman, praetorian guard, purser, radio operator, raiser, rancher, ranchman, reaper, retainer, roustabout, rustic, safeguard, serf, sharecropper, slave, snip, snips, sower, sparks, squire, steward, stewardess, stoker, stooge, subordinate, tea-planter, tenant farmer, tender, tiller, torpedoman, trainbearer, tree farmer, truck farmer, underling, understrapper, usher, vassal, watch

ROGET THESAURUS

yeoman

Agriculture

N agriculture, cultivation, husbandry, farming, georgics, geoponics, tillage, agronomy, gardening, spade husbandry, vintage, horticulture, arboriculture, floriculture, landscape gardening, viticulture, husbandman, horticulturist, gardener, florist, agricultor, agriculturist, yeoman, farmer, cultivator, tiller of the soil, woodcutter, backwoodsman, granger, habitat, vigneron, viticulturist, Triptolemus, field, meadow, garden, botanic garden, winter garden, ornamental garden, flower garden, kitchen garden, market garden, hop garden, nursery, green house, hot house, conservatory, bed, border, seed plot, grassplot, grassplat, lawn, park, parterre, shrubbery, plantation, avenue, arboretum, pinery, pinetum, orchard, vineyard, vinery, orangery, farm, agricultural, agrarian, agrestic, arable, predial, rural, rustic, country, horticultural.

Man

N man, male, he, him, manhood, gentleman, sir, master, sahib, yeoman, wight, swain, fellow, blade, beau, elf, chap, gaffer, good man, husband, Mr, mister, boy, cock, drake, gander, dog, boar, stag, hart, buck, horse, entire horse, stallion, gibcat, tomcat, he goat, Billy goat, ram, tup, bull, bullock, capon, ox, gelding, steer, stot, androgen, homosexual, gay, queen, male, he-, masculine, manly, virile, unwomanly, unfeminine, Pron, he, him, his, hominem pagina nostra sapit, homo homini aut deus aut lupus, homo vitae commodatus non donatus est.

For further exploring for "yeoman" in Webster Dictionary Online