valet-de-place

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French [Term?].

Noun

valet-de-place (plural valets-de-place)

  1. (historical) In France, a person who offered his services as a guide, messenger, etc. for hire, especially to strangers.
    • 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 383:
      I therefore added to my own English servants […] a Frenchman, who had formerly served me as valet de place, and of whom I had a very good opinion.
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