maiden
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmeɪdən/
rhymes: -eɪdən
Forms: form: maidens
Etymology: From Middle English mayden, meiden, from Old English mæġden (“girl”), originally a diminutive of mæġeþ (“girl”) via diminutive suffix -en, from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs. Equivalent to maid + -en.
Senses: glosses: A girl or an unmarried young woman.
examples: text: She's unmarried and still a maiden.
glosses: A female virgin.
examples: text: As for that ſaid ſire Bors I wille be ſhryuen with a good wylle / Soo ſyr Bors was confeſſyd / and for al wymmen ſir Bors was a vyrgyne / ſauf for one / that was the doughter of kynge Brangorys / and on her he gat a child that hyghte Elayne / and ſauf for her ſyre Bors was a clene mayden[…]
ref: 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum Quartum”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XI (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC, leaf 289, recto; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 577:
english: As for that, said Sir Bors, I will be shriven with a good will. So Sir Bors was confessed, and for all women Sir Bors was a virgin, save for one, that was the daughter of King Brangoris, and with her he begat a child that hight Elaine, and save for her Sir Bors was a clean maiden.
translation: As for that, said Sir Bors, I will be shriven with a good will. So Sir Bors was confessed, and for all women Sir Bors was a virgin, save for one, that was the daughter of King Brangoris, and with her he begat a child that hight Elaine, and save for her Sir Bors was a clean maiden.
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glosses: A man with no experience of sex, especially because of deliberate abstention.
glosses: A maidservant.
glosses: A clothes maiden.
glosses: An unmarried woman, especially an older woman.
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: A racehorse without any victory, i.e. one having a "virgin record".
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: A horse race in which all starters are maidens.
examples: text: It had been customary during the whole civil war, to decapitate state criminals by the instrument called the maiden; but Montrose was condemned to a more ignominious death , by a gibbet thirty feet high
ref: 1832, Robert Chambers, The History of Scotland:
glosses: A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A maiden over.
glosses: A machine for washing linen.
topics: Wicca
lifestyle
religion
glosses: Alternative form of Maiden.
Synonyms: sense: unmarried (young) female
word: bachelorette
Derived terms: A-bomb maiden
barmaiden
billow maiden
bondmaiden
break one's maiden
bridesmaiden
clothes maiden
comely maidens
elf-maiden
gleemaiden
handmaiden
Hiroshima maiden
housemaiden
ice maiden
iron maiden
Maiden
maiden-auntishness
Maiden Bradley
maidenhair
maidenhead
Maidenhead
maidenhood
maidenish
maidenless
maidenlike
maidenliness
maidenly
Maiden Newton
maiden of honor
maidenry
maidenship
maiden's honesty
Maiden's Tower
Maiden Tower
maiding
Maidstone
mermaiden
milkmaiden
shieldmaiden
skymaiden
swan maiden
unmaiden
unmaidenlike
unmaidenliness
unmaidenly
wicket maiden
Related terms: maid