Wiktionary

maiden

See also: Maiden, mäiden, and Mäiden

English edit

Etymology edit

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.

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

maiden (plural maidens)

  1. (now chiefly literary) A girl or an unmarried young woman.
  2. (archaic) 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

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

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.

Adjective edit

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.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

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.

Anagrams edit

Finnish edit

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

maiden

  1. genitive plural of maa

Anagrams edit

Scots edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English mayden, Old English mægden; compare Scottish Gaelic maighdeann. Attested in Older Scots from the 12th century.[1]

Noun edit

maiden (plural maidens)

  1. (archaic) maiden, a girl, an unmarried young woman
  2. (archaic, attributive or in compounds) (something) early, immature, first
    maiden egg ― the first egg laid by a young hen
    maiden-chance ― first opportunity
  3. (archaic) a servant girl, a maid
  4. (archaic) the last sheaf of grain harvested, decorated with ribbons and regarded as a talisman; (by extension) the end of the harvest
    Synonyms: kirn, clyack, hare
  5. (historical) [from 16th century] an instrument similar to a guillotine used for capital punishment
    • 1843 [1724], Allan Ramsay, “Genty Tibby”, in Alexander Whitelaw, editor, The Book of Scottish Song‎[2]:
      Now strike my finger in a bore, / My wyson with the maiden shore, / Gin I can tell whilk I am for, / ⁠When these twa stars appear thegither.
      Now stretch my finger on the rack, Shear my throat with the maiden, By the time I can tell where I am headed, These two stars appear together.
  6. (obsolete) [18th to 20th century] the eldest daughter of a landowner or wealthy farmer

Verb edit

maiden (third-person singular simple present maidens, present participle maidenin, simple past maident, past participle maident)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) to act as maiden cummer (mother's assistant) at a christening
    maiden the bairn ― look after the child

References edit

  1. ^ “maidin, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
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