henchman
noun
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The earliest known examples of henchman show it being used as a term for a squire or a page, but the word may have seen earlier use with the meaning "groom." It first appeared in Middle English and is a combination of Old English hengest ("a male horse") and man. One of the duties of a groom, squire, or page to a person of high rank was tending horses, and such a person was relied upon, which influenced the broader senses of henchman including "right-hand man."
Examples of henchman in a Sentence
Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 10 May 2024
The prequel chronicles 16 years of its hero’s life, from the moment she’s kidnapped as a child from her idyllic home by the henchmen of a crazed biker named Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth sporting a consciously comic prosthetic nose.
—Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 8 May 2024
Fury will play Johnny – a no-nonsense henchman to Maggie.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 8 May 2024
His henchmen came over for dinner sometimes, but that didn’t count.
—Simon Rich, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
Less than two years after Saudi henchmen killed and dismembered a Saudi Washington Post columnist and monarchy critic, the F1 and the kingdom’s flagship oil company entered into a 10-year partnership deal.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
Later, when Dalton takes on a henchman (Conor McGregor) hired by Ben’s father, the fights become a battle of wincing blows and brutal attacks.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2024
Anand Nagraj is wickedly campy as Jafar, the kingdom’s power-hungry vizier and Aaron Choi is intentionally cartoonish as Jafar’s henchmen Iago (transformed from a talking parrot character in the film).
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Apr. 2024
Like Selina Kyle being nibbled into Catwoman by her alley cats, Doug’s origin story involves a nurturing puppy pile and a preternatural ability to communicate with the army of mutts who, hilariously, do his bidding like henchmen in a gangster movie.
—Jen Yamato, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'henchman.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Henchman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/henchman. Accessed 19 May. 2024.
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henchman
noun
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