ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun
Etymology: Middle English, from hand + maid
1. : a personal maid or female servant or attendant
2. : something whose essential function is to serve and assist
holds that the state … must become the servant or handmaid of the church — Times Literary Supplement
even philosophy and logic … were in his eyes the mere handmaids of the critical spirit — Richard Wollheim