Abigail's self-styling as a handmaid led to Abigail being a traditional term for a waiting-woman, for example as the waiting gentlewoman in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Scornful Lady, published in 1616.
Abigail's self-identification as a handmaid led to her being categorized as a traditional term for a waiting woman, such as the "waiting gentlewoman" in Beaumont and Fletcher's play "The Scornful Lady," published in 1616.