Groome

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term referring to a male attendant or servant ; a person responsible for looking after horses and their equipment ; a title once used for a young man serving in a royal or noble household
2. A historical word for a personal servant to someone of rank ; an individual tasked with caring for horses and stables ; formerly, a designation for a youthful domestic assistant
3. An old-fashioned designation for a manservant employed in aristocratic households ; someone whose duties included the care and management of horses ; a youthful attendant or helper, especially in a royal court

Etymology: Before it meant a man getting married, this word meant a boy or young man, and by the later Middle Ages it was used for a male servant, especially one attached to a household or a rider. Its ultimate source is uncertain. Some scholars have linked it to Old English "guma," meaning "man," but the link is not firmly established, and the word may simply have arisen in Middle English. The sense of a servant who tends horses grew out of its household meaning, which is why a stable worker is still called a groom. The marriage sense came from "bridegroom," a compound in which "groom" originally meant "man." English speakers later began to use "groom" alone for the man at a wedding, so a word once applied to any young male servant now mainly refers to a man on his wedding day.

Synonyms: groom