| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| yeoman |
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| SYLLABICATION: | yeo·man |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  y  m n |
| NOUN: | 1a. An attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household. b. A yeoman of the guard. 2. A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy. 3. An assistant or other subordinate, as of a sheriff. 4. A diligent, dependable worker. 5. A farmer who cultivates his own land, especially a member of a former class of small freeholders in England. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English yoman, perhaps from Old English *g aman, from Old Frisian g man, villager : g, region, district + man, man; see man-1 in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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