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VALET. 22 VALHALLA.
Studies his master's temper and caprices. 1885 Aihenxum
36 Sept. 393/2 The chief characters in his plays are heavy
fathers and confidential valets.
Jig. 1837 Carlvle /^"r, Etv. 1. 1. i. Which would not end
till * France * (La France, as she named her royal valet)
finally mustered heart to see Choiseul.
2. Afi/. A footman acting as attendant or servant
to a horseman. rar£. (Cf. Varlet i b.)
1591 Garrard's Art Wetrrt 260 There be.. two quarters
for horsemen, the which their vallets are to entrench with a
smal trench. 1831 tr. Sismondis Ital. R*s of Gloria, he had always valeted himself.
absol. 1885 G. Allen Babylon xv. But can he valet, I
wonder ?
Hence Vs'leting vbl. sb.
1857 Hughes To/n Brown i. iii. He would have gone
without nether integuments altogether, sooner than nave
had recourse to female valeting. 1861 Mrs. Carlvle Lett.
III. 77, I have all the valeting to do myself.
II Valetaille (valeta'y). [F., f va/etVALSt sb.1
A number or retinue of valets.
1858 Caklyle Fredk. Gt, vii. iii. (1872) II. 266 No end of
military valetaille, chiePy 'janizaries' in Turk costume.
1863 H. Marryat Year in Siveden 1. 284 The rest of the
valetaille were closely incarcerated.
II Valet-de-chambre (vaU ds Jahbr). Also
7 valett-, 7-8 valette ; 7 vally, 8 vale ; 8 valet
de shamber, 8-9 valet de sham, 9 valley-desham.
[F. , lit. * chamber-valet *.] « Valet sb. i
a. 1646 Chas. I Lett, to Q. Henrietta M, (Camden) 60
One Dubose, valett-de«chambre to the Queen Regent, 1655
Nicholas P. (Camden) II. 291 There finding a valet de
chambre attending, the Marquis wild him to tell the prince
I was there. 1711 Addison Sped, No. 106 r 2 You would
take his Valet de Chambre for his Brother. 1764 Foote
Patron n. 31 It has been said, and I believe with some
shadow of truth, that no man is a hero to his valet de
chambre. 178a V. Knox Ess. No. 32. 147, I dare say, you
remember a shrewd remark of a writer, whose name I cannot
recollect, That no great man ever appeared great in
the eyes of his valet de chambre. 1839 Dickens Nickleby
xxvii), With noiseless tread two valets-de-chambre advanced
into the room. 1862 Aide Carr of C. III. 36 Though our
valets-de-chambre know us to be no heroes, it is clearly
their interest to make us appear such in the eyes of the
world.
p. 1678 in Pollock Popish Plot App. B. (1903) 384 A vally
de chambre to the Lord Bellasis. vjo^ O. Dykes Eng,
Prov. (ed. 2) 135 By the conversation of an illiterate Coxcomb
of a Vale De Chambre. 1776 Foote Capuchin i.
Wks. 1799 II. 384 His old shopman, whom he keeps as his
valet de sham. 1791 O'Keeffe l^Hd Oats \. \, I wish you
hadn't made me your valet de shamber, 1853 W. Irving
Li/e ff Lett. (1864) IV. 124 The door was opened by Mr.
Gray's factotum and valley-de-sham Phil.
Hence Valet-de-chambresliip.
1779 J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1793) 1. 14 His dexterity and
intelligence in the science of valet-de-chambreship.
II Valet-de-place (vak da plas). [F., lit.
' place-servant .] A man who acts as a[ guide to
strangers or tourists; a cicerone.
1750 Chesterf. Lett. (1774) II. xiii. 52 You will have your
coach,.. your own footman, and a valet de place. 179a C.
Smith Desmond III. 267 A Frenchman, who had formerly
served me as valet de place. x8i8 Gentt. Mag. Nov. 406/2
We chose rather to stroll out alone, than to put ourselves
under the direction of a valet-de-place. x886 Ruskin Time
^ Tidetn, I asked a valet-de-place at Meurice's what people
were cenerally going to [for amusement],
Valetry Cvae-letri). [f. Valet sb.'\ Valets
collectively; the office or quality of a valet.
1806 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. IV. 24^ Hospitals for
decayed valetry and dependents of ministerial land-owners.
'853 James Agnes Sorell. 191 The cutler, .could not forbear
some grumbling observations upon valets and valetry.
1880 Swinburne Stud. Shaks. 97 Work fitter for ushers
and embalmers and the general valetry or varletry of Church
aod State;
tValetude. Obs. rare. Also valitude. [ad.
L. valetiido, valtiudo state of health, f. valere to be
well or strong.] a. Good health, b. Condition
as to health.
ais6oRoLLANDCr/. Venus u. 106 Thair was worschip with
welthand \-alitude.. .Thair was meiknes weil mixt withmansuetude.
1613 Cockeram i, Valetude, health or sicknesse.
1657 ToMLiNSON Renou's Disp. 261 Esula..is frequently
used to the valitude of many, and the death of more.
tl Valetudinaire, a. and sb. rare, [F. valetudinatre.]
= Yaletudinaky.
168a Warburton Nist. Guernsey (1822) 131 One, that is
val^tudinaire, may, in the time of his sickness, contract with
any relation or stranger to take care of him. 1715 Pope
Farew. to Lond. x. Still idle, with a busy air, Deep whimsies
to contrive ; The gayest valetudinaire, Most thinking rake,
alive.
Valetudinarian (vseli'tiKdinea-rian), sb. and
a. [See Valetudinary a. and -ian.]
A. sK A person in weak health, esp. one who is
constantly concerned with his own ailments; an
invalid.
1703 Daupier Voy. III. i. 81 Many of our English Valetudinarians
have gone from Jamaica . . to the I. Caimanes, .
to live wholly upon Turtle that abound there. 1746 R.
James Health''s Improv. Introd. 45 Such who have very
strong Constitutions, are more liable to pestilential Disorders,
and putrid Fevers, than Valetudinarians. 1787 Genii. Mag.
Dec. 1056/2 Every one knows how hard a task it is to cure
a valetudinarian. 1832 J. A. Heraud Voy. ^ Mem. Mid'
shipntan vi. (1837) 102 The hot springs and medicinal
vapours.. must at a very early period have excited the
attention of valetudinarians. 1880 L. Stephen Pope iv. 92
Naturally, he fell into many of the self-indulgent and
troublesome ways of the valetudinarian.
Jig. 1712 BuDGELL sped. No. 395 F 10 These are a kind
of Valetudinarians in Chastity. 1777 Sheridan School for
Scand. I. i, True, madam! there are Valetudinarians in
reputation as well as constitution. 1873 Goulburn Pers.
Reli^. 11. V. 81 The man becomes a valetudinarian in
religion, full of himself, his symptoms, his ailments, the
delicacy of his moral health.
B. adj. = Valetudinaey £?.
1713 Derham Phys.'Theol. iii. iv. (1727) 72 An admirable
Easement, .to the valetudinarian, feeble Part of Mankind.
1740 Chevne Ess. Regimen i. The Scorbutic, Gouty, Consumptive,
or Nervous Valetudinarian-low-livers. 1751
Earl Orrerv Rem. Sivift (1752) 113 His fortune exempted
him from care and solHcitude. His valetudinarian habit of
body from intemperance. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics
(i860) II. 118 The valetudinarian devotee becomes more and
more the puppet of his spiritual doctor. 18^3 Jowett Plato
(ed. 2) III. 283 Asclepius did not instruct his descendants in
valetudinarian arts.
Hence ValetadizLaTianism, the condition of a
valetudinarian ; tendency to be in weak health or
to be much concerned about one's own health.
i8s9 Eraser's Mag. XIX. 52 Those traces of laborious
valetudinarianism and nervous sensibility. 1868 W. R.
Greg Lit.