Wiktionary

maiden

See also: Maiden, mäiden, and Mäiden

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈmeɪdən/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪdən

NounEdit

maiden (plural maidens)

  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.
    • 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:
      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 […]
      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.
  4. A maidservant.
  5. A clothes maiden.
  6. (now rare) An unmarried woman, especially an older woman.
  7. (horse racing) A racehorse without any victory, i.e. one having a "virgin record".
  8. (horse racing) A horse race in which all starters are maidens.
  9. (historical) A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
    • 1832, Robert Chambers, The History of Scotland:
      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
  10. (cricket) A maiden over.
  11. (obsolete) A machine for washing linen.
  12. (Wicca) Alternative form of Maiden

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

rack for drying clothes — see clotheshorse
(cricket) a maiden over
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

AdjectiveEdit

maiden (not comparable)

  1. Virgin.
  2. (of a female, human or animal) Without offspring.
  3. Like or befitting a (young, unmarried) maiden.
  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”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      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.
  7. (of a fortress) Never having been captured or violated.
  8. (of a tree) Grown from seed and never pruned

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

virgin — see virgin
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

AnagramsEdit

FinnishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

NounEdit

maiden

  1. genitive plural of maa

AnagramsEdit

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