yeoman's service
yeoman's service noun: arduous work, performed in a vigorous, committed manner.
Noun
yeoman's service
- Arduous work, performed in a vigorous, committed manner.
- Near-synonym: good job
- He hath done yeoman's service, and proved himself staunch and faithful.1891, Charlotte Mary Yonge, chapter 7, in Unknown to History
- Synonyms:
- yeoman's work, yeoman's labor, good job
- Reliable, useful, capable service.
- I once did hold it, as our statists do,
A baseness to write fair and labour'd much
How to forget that learning, but, sir, now
It did me yeoman's service.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac... - [O]n many occasions his liberality did him genuine yeoman's service.1827, [Walter Scott], chapter 1, in Chronicles of the Canongate; […], Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC
- I once did hold it, as our statists do,
Synonyms of yeoman's service
Forms of yeoman's service
| alternative form | yeoman service |
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Origin of yeoman's service
An allusion to stouthearted, dutiful labor performed by a yeoman.
Questions about yeoman's service
- What does yeoman's service mean?
- Yeoman's service means arduous work, performed in a vigorous, committed manner.
- What part of speech is yeoman's service?
- Yeoman's service is a noun.
Words near yeoman's service in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yeoman's service (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-yeoman's service.wav.
Cite this entry: “yeoman's service.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yeoman%27s_service. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.