maiden
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmeɪdən/
rhymes: -eɪdən
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: examples: text: a surprising old maiden lady
ref: 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:
text: It was just the middle of October when I moved in with my maiden sister […]
ref: 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:
glosses: Virgin.
qualifier: human or animal
glosses: Without offspring.
raw_tags: of a female
examples: text: Haue you no modeſty, no maiden ſhame, / No touch of baſhfulneſſe?
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 155, column 2:
glosses: Like or befitting a (young, unmarried) maiden.
examples: text: 1975 was the year when West Indies won their maiden World Cup title.
text: The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.
text: After Edmund Burke's maiden speech, William Pitt the Elder said Burke had "spoken in such a manner as to stop the mouths of all Europe" and that the Commons should congratulate itself on acquiring such a member.
text: Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado took his maiden victory and Williams's first since 2004 in a strategic battle with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
ref: 2012 May 13, Andrew Benson, “Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Being a first occurrence or event.
examples: text: He bowled a record twelve maiden overs in his spell of 8-33 in 21 overs.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Being an over in which no runs are scored.
examples: text: Come Brother Iohn, full brauely haſt thou fleſht thy Maiden ſword.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], page 72, column 2:
text: When I am dead, good Wench, / Let me be vs’d with Honor; ſtrew me ouer / With Maiden Flowers, that all the world may know / I was a chaſte Wife, to my Graue: Embalme me, / Then lay me forth (although vnqueen’d) yet like / A Queene, and Daughter to a King enterre me.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 226, column 2:
glosses: Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused.
examples: text: Victorie forsook him for ever since he ransacked the maiden town of Magdenburg
ref: 1631, J. Taylor, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
text: But every citizen considered his own honor as bound up with the honor of the maiden fortress.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: Never having been captured or violated.
raw_tags: of a fortress
glosses: Grown from seed and never pruned.
raw_tags: of a tree
Synonyms: maidenly
Derived terms: flesh one's maiden sword
maiden assize
maiden-auntish
maiden flight
maiden grass
maidenhair
maidenhair fern
maidenhair tree
maiden name
maiden over
maiden plum
maiden run
maiden speech
maiden stake
maiden voyage