arch. Also 4–5 bur-, bour-, boure-. [f. BOWER sb.1 1.] A chamber-maid; a lady in waiting.
c. 1308. Sat. People Kildare, ix. in E. E. P. (1862), 175. Goddes bourmaidnes and his owen spouse.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 6486. A burmaiden he hadde fair and schene.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 56. Burmayden, pedissequa, ancilla.
c. 1450. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 623. Abra, bowre-mayde.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, 121. Only my best bower-maiden died of late.
