maiden

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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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