Also 6–9 bridemaid. [The earlier form was bridemaid, as in brideman and the other compounds of BRIDE- in sense of ‘bridal, wedding’; the 19th c. bridesmaid is due to the same perverted analysis, which has changed brideman into groomsman.]
A young unmarried woman performing various ceremonial duties at a wedding; in modern times the bridesmaids merely accompany or form the train of the bride.
α. Form bridemaid.
1552. Huloet, Bryde mayde, pronuba.
1621. Quarles, Argalus & P. (1678), 55. The Bride shall sit; Despair and Grief shall stand Like heartless Bride-maids upon either hand.
1747. Hervey, Medit. & Contempl. (1818), 22. The bridemaids, girded with gladness, had prepared the marriage-bed; had decked it with the richest covers, and dressed it in pillows of down.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., VII. xviii. But in the Garden bower the Bride And Bride-maids singing are.
a. 1847. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, IV. xxiv. 147. Letitia, who had been my bridemaid.
1851. Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1883), 33. The widow between her fair young bridemaids.
β. bridesmaid. (At first colloq. or epistolary.)
1794. Ld. Auckland, Corr. (1862), III. 256. It is proposed to one of your sisters to be bridesmaid at the royal marriage.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Characters, viii. 144. The bridesmaids could sit in the front parlour and receive the company.
1840. Ann. Reg., 24. The royal bridesmaids are each to have a brooch.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 13 Feb., 8/2. The bridesmaids … wore dresses of cream soie épinglé and plush.
Hence Bridemaidship, the position or office of a bridesmaid; Bridesmaiding vbl. sb., acting as bridesmaid.
1858. Trollope, Dr. Thorne, iv. I won’t be Augusta’s bridesmaid; I’ll bide my time for bridesmaiding.
1864. Chamb. Jrnl., 8 Oct., 642. It’s your first experience of bridemaidship, and you look very nice.
