scullery-maid
Dish-washing domestic worker
A scullery-maid was the lowest-ranking female servant in a large household, responsible for washing dishes, scrubbing pots, and cleaning the scullery—a small room adjoining the kitchen used for rough kitchen work.
The position was grueling and poorly paid: She started as a scullery-maid and worked her way up to cook.
The term is historical, belonging to an era of domestic service that largely ended in the early twentieth century.
Live-in cleaning employee
- parlormaidHousehold servant serving guests
- chambermaidHotel room attendant
- kitchenmaidDomestic servant in cookery
- tweenyPre-teen youth
footman · butler · valet · housekeeper · governess · cook · laundress · coachman
Cleaning by rubbing hard
- potsVessels for cooking or planting
- pansCriticizes severely
- scouringVigorous abrasive cleaning
- dishwaterUsed cleaning liquid
suds · sink · copper · drainboard · washing-up · crockery · cutlery · grease
Least in position
- juniorLower in standing
- underlingPerson of lower rank
- drudgeOne doing hard, dull labor
- menialLowly and unskilled
subordinate · inferior · apprentice · promoted · advancement · overlooked · invisible · unnoticed
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- estateProperty and grounds
- country-houseLarge rural residence
upstairs-downstairs · gentry · service · period · gaslight · historical · nineteenth-century
housemaid
Live-in cleaning employee
- parlormaidHousehold servant serving guests
- chambermaidHotel room attendant
- kitchenmaidDomestic servant in cookery
tweeny · footman · butler · valet · housekeeper · governess · cook · laundress · coachman · pageboy
scrubbing
Cleaning by rubbing hard
dishwater · suds · sink · copper · drainboard · washing-up · crockery · cutlery · grease · grime
lowest
Least in position
menial · subordinate · inferior · apprentice · promoted · advancement · overlooked · invisible · unnoticed · humble
Victorian
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- estateProperty and grounds
country-house · upstairs-downstairs · gentry · service · period · gaslight · historical · nineteenth-century
scullery-maidmaster of the house
Home's primary authority figure
butler · lady of the house · housekeeper · mistress · master
scullery-maidlady of leisure
Woman of independent means
socialite · debutante · gentlewoman · hostess
scullery, maid, scull, maids, maiden, maidens, maidenly, maidenhood, maidservant