elevator girl
1
6.9
- noun
- /ˈɛlɪˌveɪtər ɡɜrl/
- Archaic
:
ascensorista
- One of the jobs that she had was an elevator girl.
Examples
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The elevator girl assisted customers by taking them to different floors of the department store.
-
Wife and kids go away to the country and the boss has a fling with his secretary... or the manicurist, or the elevator girl.
-
She worked as an elevator girl in the busy office building downtown.
-
During my visit, I noticed the friendly elevator girl always greeted everyone with a smile.
Synonyms
3
3.9
A person who stands in an elevator and moves it for people in a large building
1
8.2
A young man who operates an elevator in a hotel or office building
1
5.5
A person who operates an elevator in a building
A person who operates an elevator in a public building
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a girl employed to operate an elevator' is directly compositional from 'elevator' (the device) + 'girl' (a young woman), forming a noun+noun role description. This is a common, transparent pattern for job/role labels in English and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Elevator girl comes from mid-1900s department stores and office buildings where young women in uniform actually worked the elevators and welcomed passengers. The clear image of a polite girl pressing the elevator buttons explains why the phrase means 'a girl or young woman employed to operate an elevator' today.