From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Yeoman \Yeo"man\, n.; pl. {Yeomen}. [OE. yoman, [yogh]eman,
[yogh]oman; of uncertain origin; perhaps the first, syllable
is akin to OFries. g[=a] district, region, G. gau, OHG. gewi,
gouwi, Goth. gawi. [root]100.]
[1913 Webster]
1. A common man, or one of the commonly of the first or most
respectable class; a freeholder; a man free born.
[1913 Webster]
Note: A yeoman in England is considered as next in order to
the gentry. The word is little used in the United
States, unless as a title in law proceedings and
instruments, designating occupation, and this only in
particular States.
[1913 Webster]
2. A servant; a retainer. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
A yeman hadde he and servants no mo. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
3. A yeoman of the guard; also, a member of the yeomanry
cavalry. [Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
4. (Naut.) An interior officer under the boatswain, gunner,
or carpenters, charged with the stowage, account, and
distribution of the stores.
[1913 Webster]
{Yeoman of the guard}, one of the bodyguard of the English
sovereign, consisting of the hundred yeomen, armed with
partisans, and habited in the costume of the sixteenth
century. They are members of the royal household.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
yeoman
n 1: officer in the (ceremonial) bodyguard of the British
monarch [syn: {yeoman}, {yeoman of the guard}, {beefeater}]
2: in former times was free and cultivated his own land
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