Maiden

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmeɪdÉ™n/
• Rhymes: -eɪdÉ™n

Origin

From Middle English, from Old English mæġden ("maiden, virgin, girl, maid, servant"), diminutive of mæġþ, mæġeþ ("maiden, virgin, girl, woman, wife") via diminutive suffix -en, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs ("maid, virgin"), from Proto-Indo-European *maghu- ("fellow, bachelor"), equivalent to maid + -en. Cognate with Dutch maagd ("virgin"), Old High German magad ("maiden") (modern German Magd ("maidservant"), Old Irish mug ("slave") and Albanian mag ("a hare's young, hinnulus").

Full definition of maiden

Noun

1. (now chiefly literary) A girl or an unmarried young woman.
2. A female virgin.She's unmarried and still a maiden.
3. (obsolete, dialectal) A man with no experience of sex, especially because of deliberate abstention.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XI:And for all women Sir Bors was a vergyne, sauff for one, that was the doughter of Kynge Braundegorys ..., and sauff for her, Sir Bors was a clene mayden.
4. A maidservant.
5. (now rare) An unmarried woman, especially an older woman.
6. A racehorse without any victory ('virgin record').
7. (historical) A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
8. (cricket) A maiden over.
9. (obsolete) A machine for washing linen.
10. (Wicca) Alternative form of Maiden

Derived terms

• maidenhair
• maidenhead
• maidenhood
• maidenly, maidenliness
• maiden flight
• maiden voyage
• maiden name
• maiden of honor
• iron maiden

Related terms

• maid

Synonyms

• (unmarried (young) female) bachelorette

Adjective

1. Virgin.
• Thackeraya surprising old maiden lady
2. (of a female, human or animal) Without offspring.
3. Like or befitting a (young, unmarried) maiden.
• ShakespeareHave you no modesty, no maiden shame?
4. (figuratively) Being a first occurrence or event.The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.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.
• 2012, May 13, Andrew Benson, Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win, Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado took his maiden victory and Williams's first since 2004 in a strategic battle with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
5. (cricket) Being an over in which no runs are scored.
6. Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused.
• Shakespearemaiden flowers
• ShakespeareFull bravely hast thou fleshed
  Thy maiden sword.
7. Of a fortress, never having been captured or violated.

Synonyms

• maidenly

Anagrams

• aidmen, Damien, demain, Manide, median, Median, medina, Medina, meidan