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bridesmaid

noun
/ˈbɹaɪdzˌmeɪd/

Etymology

From bride + -s- + maid. In the sports and entertainment sense: in reference to the saying always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

  1. derived from *magaþs✻
  2. derived from *magaþ✻
  3. derived from mǣden
  4. derived from mæġden
  5. inherited from mayde
  6. formed as bridesmaid — “bride + -s- + maid”

Definitions

  1. A woman who attends a bride during her wedding ceremony, as part of the main wedding…

    A woman who attends a bride during her wedding ceremony, as part of the main wedding party.

    • I'd love to be your bridesmaid at the wedding.
    • I was promised sex. Everybody said it. You'll be a bridesmaid, you'll get sex, you'll be fighting 'em off. But not so much as a tongue in sight.

  2. A person or team that perennially finishes well, but never first.

    • He had taken her for a dogsbody, a beta fish, a bridesmaid, a ride-along; he had looked right past her, as likely many people did.

  3. To act as a bridesmaid for

    To act as a bridesmaid for; to attend a bride during her wedding ceremony.

    • "No, Trichy; I won't be Augusta's bridesmaid; I'll bide my time for bridesmaiding."
    • And what's this? that isn't Herbie Frost with you in the canoe ; why he was best man when I bridesmaided Corinne.
    • "It's in my Data-fax, right here! December Bride: and I'm supposed to bridesmaid!"

The neighborhood

Derived

always a bridesmaid, never a bride, brosmaid, junior bridesmaid

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bridesmaid. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA