Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An unmarried girl or woman.
- noun A woman or girl who is a virgin.
- noun A machine resembling the guillotine, used in Scotland in the 1500s and 1600s to behead criminals.
- noun A racehorse that has never won a race.
- adjective Of, relating to, or befitting a maiden.
- adjective Being an unmarried girl or woman.
- adjective Being a racehorse that has never won a race.
- adjective First or earliest.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To act or speak in a maidenly manner; behave modestly or demurely.
- noun A frame on which clothes are dried.
- noun plural See
mingles . - noun A maid, in any sense of that word. See
maid . - noun An animal or a thing that is young, new, inexperienced, untried, or untaken.
- noun The last handful of corn cut down by the reapers on a farm. It is dressed up with ribbons.
- noun A wisp of straw put into a hoop of iron, used by a blacksmith in watering his fire.
- noun An instrument of capital punishment formerly used.
- noun A mallet for beating linen, used in washing.
- Being a maid; belonging to the class of maids or virgins.
- Of or pertaining to a maid or to maids: as, maiden charms.
- Like a maid in any respect; virginal; chaste.
- Young; fresh; new; hitherto untried or unused; unsullied; unstained.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a maiden, or to maidens; suitable to, or characteristic of, a virgin.
- adjective Never having been married; not having had sexual intercourse; virgin; -- said usually of the woman, but sometimes of the man.
- adjective Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused.
- adjective Used of a fortress, signifying that it has never been captured, or violated.
- adjective (Eng. Law) an assize which there is no criminal prosecution; an assize which is unpolluted with blood. It was usual, at such an assize, for the sheriff to present the judge with a pair of white gloves.
- adjective the surname of a woman before her marriage.
- adjective (Bot.) See under
Pink . - adjective (Bot.) a West Indian tree (
Comocladia integrifolia ) with purplish drupes. The sap of the tree is glutinous, and gives a persistent black stain. - adjective the first speech made by a person, esp. by a new member in a public body.
- adjective the tower most capable of resisting an enemy.
- adjective the first regular service voyage of a ship.
- noun An unmarried woman; a girl or woman who has not experienced sexual intercourse; a virgin; a maid.
- noun obsolete A female servant.
- noun An instrument resembling the guillotine, formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals.
- noun A machine for washing linen.
- transitive verb To act coyly like a maiden; -- with
it as an indefinite object. - transitive verb the smaller quaking grass.
- transitive verb See
Ginkgo .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
girl or an unmarried young woman. - noun A female
virgin . - noun now dialectal A man with no experience of
sex , especially because of deliberateabstention . - noun A
maidservant . - noun An unmarried
woman , especially an older woman. - noun A
racehorse without any victory ('virgin record'). - noun historical A Scottish counterpart of the
guillotine . - noun cricket A
maiden over .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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IT passeth for a general report of what was customary in former times, that the sheriff of the county used to present the judge with a pair of white gloves at those which we call maiden assizes, viz. when no malefactor is put to death therein; a great rarity (though usual in small) in large and populous countries.
Good Thoughts in Bad Times and Other Papers. 1608-1661 1863
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In parts of India, the harvest maiden is Guari and She is represented by both an unmarried girl and a bunch of balsam plants.
Donna Henes: Harvesting Mother Earth's Gifts of Life Donna Henes 2010
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But Kris, an iron maiden is a medieval torture device.
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In this maiden is incoiporated all the experience of the race.
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Actually, the fact that an iron maiden is a medieval torture device that pre-dates both rock and roll and comic books does little to invalidate the band's trademark claim.
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In parts of India, the harvest maiden is Guari and She is represented by both an unmarried girl and a bunch of balsam plants.
Donna Henes: Harvesting Mother Earth's Gifts of Life Donna Henes 2010
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For two years we had been close; she had been so much my friend, she could not in maiden charity seal for me a so unwelcome fate, I had awakened her slumbering soul with my first look into the sphinx wonder of her eyes.
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In parts of India, the harvest maiden is Guari and She is represented by both an unmarried girl and a bunch of balsam plants.
Donna Henes: Harvesting Mother Earth's Gifts of Life Donna Henes 2010
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The fact that an iron maiden is a medieval torture device is also beside the point.
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Next door, at Cruz Vega's place of business, the maiden is carved into a very large picture in which she is in an open meadow.
bilby commented on the word maiden
Cricket jargon - 1. an over from which no runs are scored; 2. the first, eg. a maiden century.
November 30, 2007
treeseed commented on the word maiden
One aspect of the triple goddess in Wicca
See also mother and crone
February 17, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word maiden
"The last handful of corn cut down by the reapers on a farm. It is dressed up with ribbons.
A wisp of straw put into a hoop of iron, used by a blacksmith in watering his fire."
--Cent. Dict.
September 6, 2012