[f. VALET sb.] trans. To wait upon, to attend or serve, as a valet.
1840. J. T. J. Hewlett, P. Priggins, xx. He always comes down to college to valet me, take my things away to brush, and so on.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., i. Fancy me waited upon and valeted by a stout party in black, of quiet, gentlemanly manners.
1886. A. Griffiths, Pauper Peer, i. If he keeps no servant, the proprietor of the establishment will valet him.
refl. 1893. McCarthy, Dictator, i. In the most splendid days of Gloria, he had always valeted himself.
absol. 1885. G. Allen, Babylon, xv. But can he valet, I wonder?
Hence Valeting vbl. sb.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. iii. He would have gone without nether integuments altogether, sooner than have had recourse to female valeting.
1861. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 77. I have all the valeting to do myself.
