footman

English

Etymology

From Middle English fotman, footman, foteman (“foot soldier, running footman”), from Old English *fōtman, *fōtmann (attested only as Old English fēþman, fēþemann (“footman”), equivalent to foot +‎ man.

Noun

footman (plural footmen)

1. (archaic) A soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.
2. A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc.

   Coordinate term: footwoman

   • 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, pages 251–252:

     […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […] : Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

   • 2023 September 23, Tim Hayward, “Not so easy does it”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 19:

     Reading their accounts, you can't help feeling they got a more thrilling frisson from sharing a pot of home-made stew without a footman than they took in any of their convoluted couplings.

3. (historical) A servant who runs in front of his master's carriage.
4. A metallic stand with four feet, for keeping anything warm before a fire.
5. A moth of the family Arctiidae (or subfamily Arctiinae); -- so called from its livery-like colors.
   1. especially, a common footman (Manulea lurideola)
6. A bar that connects the treadle of a spinning wheel to the wheel.

Synonyms

• (historical): runner, running footman
• (moth): footman moth

Derived terms

• speckled footman

Translations

References

• “footman”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “footman”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “footman”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “footman”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Middle English

Noun

footman

1. Alternative form of fotman