footman
footman Lexical Profile
footman Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A male domestic servant wearing a uniform or livery, whose duties traditionally include admitting guests at the door, waiting at the dining table, and attending a carriage.
"A liveried footman opened the heavy oak door and ushered the guests into the drawing room."
In historical contexts, an infantry soldier who marches and fights on foot rather than on horseback.
"The medieval commander positioned a line of heavily armed footmen in front of the archers."
Any of various small, slender moths of the subfamily Lithosiinae (family Erebidae), which hold their narrow wings folded flat or tightly wrapped around the body when at rest and whose larvae typically feed on lichens.
"The entomologist noted several species of footman moths attracted to the light trap near the lichen-covered oaks."
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English fotman, a compound of foot and man. It originally denoted an infantry soldier who fought on foot, and later a liveried servant who ran alongside his master's carriage.