ATTENDANT, carer — a rare feminine form from a root meaning 'to be of use, of benefit.' Used of Abishag the Shunammite, brought to warm the dying David (1 Kings 1:2, 4). KJV 'let her cherish him'; the proposal is medical in form and dynastic in substance, and the narrator's flat 'but the king did not know her' publishes its result. → first discussed at 1 Kings 1:2