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Abʹigail

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A lady’s maid, or lady-maid. Abigail, wife of Nabal, who introduced herself to David and afterwards married him, is a well-known Scripture heroine (1 Sam. xxv. 3). Abigail was a popular middle class Christian name in the seventeenth century. Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Scornful Lady, call the “waiting gentlewoman” Abigail, a name employed by Swift, Fielding, and others, in their novels. Probably “Abigail Hill,” the original name of Mrs. Masham, waiting-woman to Queen Anne, popularised the name.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Abel Keene
Abelites
Abessa
Abesta
Abeyance
Abhigit
Abhor
Abiala
Abida
Abidharma
Abigail
Abimelech
Able
Able-bodied Seaman
Aboard
Abolla
Abominate
Abomination of Desolation (The)
Abon Hassan
Abonde (Dame)
Abortive Flowers

See Also:

Abigail