valet
verbEtymology Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.
1
To serve (someone) as a valet.
- You can valet me, can you? Bother valeting me! I like to put on my own clothes, and brush them, too, when they are on; and if I only knew how to black my own boots, by George I should like to do it!1866, Wilkie Collins, Armadale, London: Smith, Elder & Co., Volume I, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 163:
- […] the red-haired boy who had valeted me in the morning appeared in a plain suit of black.1926, Neville Shute, chapter 7, in Marazan, London: Cassell:
- He revealed: “We had been through a lot and I decided the car needed to be cleaned out after Georgina had to deliver the baby in the car. “You can imagine the scene when I left the car in for valeting. I got some funny looks and I had to explain to the guy that I wasn’t up to anything illegal because it did look a bit like a crime scene.”2017 March 7, Stephen Maguire, “Hero Irish dad reveals he had to tell car valet he ‘wasn’t up to anything illegal’ after wife gave birth on back seat on Donegal road”, in The Irish Sun, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2021:
3
US To leave (a car) with a valet to park it.
- I asked Giacomo if he ever valeted his car, and he twisted his face into a grimace as he replied, “Rarely, but I have done it. Nervous time.”2012 May 30, Jay Weston, “One of the Most Eligible Bachelors in L.A. Has 55 Ferraris.. and Takes Me for a Drive in One!”, in The Huffington Post, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2025:
- “‘Is this a date?’” Ms. Ludbrook recalled thinking during dinner. “I had valeted my car, and he hadn’t. He said, ‘Bye,’ and went to his car. Clearly this was not a date.”2017 February 11, Rosalie R. Radomsky, “Emma Ludbrook and Tom Windish: Their First Date Was a Big Production”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2020: