Definition of "footman"

footman

noun
plural footmen
1. (archaic) A soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.
2. A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc.
  Quotations
  […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.
  1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, pages 251–252
  And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […] : Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
  1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax
  Reading their accounts, you can't help feeling they got a more thrilling frisson from sharing a pot of home-made stew without a footman than they took in any of their convoluted couplings.
  2023 September 23, Tim Hayward, “Not so easy does it”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 19
3. (historical) A servant who runs in front of his master's carriage.
4. A metallic stand with four feet, for keeping anything warm before a fire.
5. A moth of the family Arctiidae (or subfamily Arctiinae); -- so called from its livery-like colors.
  1. especially, the common footman (Manulea lurideola)
6. A bar that connects the treadle of a spinning wheel to the wheel.