menial, a. and n.
(ˈmiːnɪəl)
Forms: α. 4 meynal(l, -el, 5 meygnall, menal(l. β. 4–5 meyneal, meynyal, 5 menyal, mayneal, meyneyall, 6 maneall, meneal, meigniall, 7 mæniall, meniall, 7– menial.
[a. AF. meignal, menial, f. meiniee meinie.]
A. adj.
† 1. Pertaining to the household, domestic. Also transf. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 215 A mannes owne meynal wittes [L. domestici sensus ejus] beeþ his owne enemyes. 1388 Wyclif Rom. xvi. 5 Grete ȝe wel her meyneal [v.r. meynyal, Vulg. domesticam] chirche. c 1400 Plowman's T. 322 The tything of Turpe lucrum With these maisters is meynall. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 17 He had exchang'd his own Property, his very menial Necessaries for Bread to support them. |
2. Of a servant: Forming one of the household; domestic. Now only in contemptuous use: see B.
| 1427 Will of Sir E. Braybroke in Bedford. N. & Q. (1889) II. 224, I wol that after my deces my meyne meygnall be kepte to-geder in houshold. 1444 Close Roll, 23 Hen. VI, The said Geffrey was a menall man of the worshipful household of our Sovereign Lord the King. 1450 Rolls of Parlt. V. 179/2 The wages and fees of youre menyall servauntez. c 1475 Partenay 900 To gret and smal menal persones. 1516 Will R. Peke of Wakefield 4 June, Every one of my maneall servantes. 1642 Chas. I in Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §396 And all this, whilst his Majesty had no other attendance than his own Menial Servants. 1675 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 294 That none shall heare Masse either at the Queen's or any Ambass{supr}{sups} Chappell but their owne meniall Servants. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. xiv. 413 The first sort of servants therefore, acknowledged by the laws of England, are menial servants; so called from being intra moenia, or domestics. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. ii. iii. (1869) I. 332 The labour of a menial servant..adds to the value of nothing. 1791 E. Inchbald Simple Story I. iv. 32 She felt herself but as a menial servant. |
3. Of service or employment: Proper to or performed by a menial or domestic servant. Now only with disparaging implication: Of the nature of drudgery; servile, degrading.
| 1673 Temple United Prov. ii. 113 His [De Wit's] Train..was only one man, who performed all the Menial service of his House at home. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. iii, A maid to dress her and two other servants for menial offices. c 1829 Visct. Palmerston in Lytton Life (1870) I. vi. 317 note, The wives are forced to wash and perform all menial offices. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 39 As to the Indian, he is a game animal, not to be degraded by useful or menial toil. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxiv, The menial offices..the numerous degrading duties..that I've had to do for him. 1899 T. Nicol Recent Archaeol. & Bible iv. 153 The menial character of the labour [sc. brickmaking]. |
4. Of temper, spirit, occupations: Servile, sordid.
| 1837 [see menialism]. 1839 Bailey Festus xiii. (1852) 151 Nor cold insurgent heart, nor menial mind Can compass this. 1875 Jowett Plato, Gorgias (ed. 2) II. 399 All other arts which have to do with the body are servile and menial and illiberal. 1891 Edin. Rev. CLXXIII. 400 Devoted only to the menial care of building a fortune. |
B. n. A ‘menial’ servant (see A. 2). Now only contemptuous, applied chiefly to liveried men-servants kept for ostentation rather than use; often suggesting an imputation of pomposity or arrogance.
| 1388 Wyclif 2 Sam. xvi. 2 The assis ben to the meyneals of the kyng [Vulg. domesticis regis]. 1650 Bp. Hall Balm Gilead xii. §4 Surely the great Housekeeper of the World..will never leave any of his menials without the bread of sufficiency. 1755 Johnson, Menial, one of the train of servants. 1768 T. Moss The Beggar 15 A pamper'd menial forc'd me from the door, To seek a shelter in an humbler shed. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. Introd. 39 The Duchess..bade her page the menials tell That they should tend the old man well. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. iv. i, Dismiss This menial hence; I would be private with you. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 76 The most common soldier was attended by a retinue of menials that would have better suited the establishment of a noble. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. vii. 68 A hot menial in a red waistcoat came and opened the door. 1901 J. Watson Life Master xviii. 170 The servants..allowed Him to pass with a menial's disdain for the poor. |
Hence ˈmenialism, the condition of a menial; a menial act; meniˈality, menial character; pl. menial conditions; ˈmenially adv., like a menial.
| 1837 New Monthly Mag. L. 132 Menial in soul, he may as well have the hire of menialism. 1846 Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 105 And is such a man to be abased to the menialities of the servants' hall? 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIV. 344 Lady Suffolk..had been bedchamber woman, and of course had performed this menialism! 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 169 The Prince..handed his hat to Mr. V., his cane to Mr. R., and, leaving them..thus menially employed upon his service, spoke. |