Yeoman’s Service

Regular hard work; effectual service; excellent service whether in a good or bad cause. The reference is to the yeomen of the Free Companies.

“The whole training of Port Royal did him yeoman’s service.”—Shorthouse: Sir Percival, p. 56.

“We found a long knife, and a knotted handkerchief stained with blood, with which Claude had no doubt recently done yeoman’s service.”—Miss Robinson: Whitefriars, chap. viii.