Definition of varlet in English:

varlet

Pronunciation: /ˈvɑːlɪt/

noun

1 historical a man or boy acting as an attendant or servant.

Example sentences

Even among those who rank, at least by economic criteria, as middle-class, the most proximate precedent for their dress style is that of medieval varlets.

Synonyms

attendant, retainer;

domestic help, domestic worker, domestic, help, cleaner, cleaning woman/lady, helper;

lackey, flunkey, minion;

maid, housemaid, maidservant, lady's maid, handmaid, parlour maid, scullery maid, serving maid, girl, maid-of-all-work;

footman, page, page boy, valet, butler, man, gentleman's gentleman, batman, manservant, houseman, houseboy, boy;

housekeeper, steward, major domo;

coachman, postilion, equerry;

menial, drudge, hireling, slave, galley slave;

North American hired help;

in Spanish-speaking countries mozo;

Indian bearer, chokra, amah, bai

datedBritish charwoman, charlady, char, boots

South African , mainly historical jong

informalBritish Mrs Mop, daily woman, daily, skivvy

British at university scout, bedder, gyp

archaic seneschal, abigail, servitor, scullion, tweeny, serving man, serving woman, serving wench, turnspit, varlet, vassal, serf

rare famulus

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2 archaic a dishonest or unprincipled man.

Example sentences

What varlet hath done such a blight upon our fair Empire?

Synonyms

rogue, rascal, scoundrel, good-for-nothing, villain, wretch, unprincipled person, rake, profligate, degenerate, debauchee, libertine;

troublemaker, mischief-maker, wrongdoer, evil-doer, transgressor, sinner;

French roué, vaurien

informal scallywag, bad egg

informalNorth American scofflaw, hellion

British informal, dated rotter, bounder

dated cad, ne'er-do-well

archaic miscreant, blackguard, knave, rapscallion, varlet, wastrel, rakehell, scapegrace

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Derivatives

varletry: Pronunciation: /ˈvɑːlɪtri/

noun

Example sentences
I will go and fright the varletry with my presence, and secure, I trust, a horse for Your Majesty, and one for myself.
The modern magazine reader is a member of the new bourgeois varletry, the monied class that makes the old nouveau riche look like aristocracy.

Origin

late Middle English: from Old French, variant of valet 'attendant' (see valet). The sense 'rogue' dates from the mid 16th century.

valet from Late Middle English:
Rich men who could afford to employ a valet to look after their clothes had to be careful that he was also not a varlet (mid 16th century), ‘an unprincipled man’, as the words are essentially the same. French valet ‘attendant’ and its early variant varlet are related to vassal (Late Middle English), from medieval Latin vassallus ‘retainer’, which derived from a Celtic word. The first valets were 15th-century footmen who acted as attendants on a horseman.

Words that rhyme with varlet

scarlet, Scarlett, starlet, starlit

For editors and proofreaders

Line breaks: var¦let