maiden

n. [ OE. maiden, meiden, AS. maegden, dim. of AS. maegð, fr. mago son, servant; akin to G. magd, mädchen, maid, OHG. magad, Icel. mögr son, Goth. magus boy, child, magaps virgin, and perh. to Zend. magu youth. Cf. Maid a virgin. ] 1. An unmarried woman; a girl or woman who has not experienced sexual intercourse; a virgin; a maid. [ 1913 Webster ]

She employed the residue of her life to repairing of highways, building of bridges, and endowing of maidens. Carew. [ 1913 Webster ]

A maiden of our century, yet most meek. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A female servant. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An instrument resembling the guillotine, formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A machine for washing linen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of or pertaining to a maiden, or to maidens; suitable to, or characteristic of, a virgin; as, maiden innocence. “Amid the maiden throng.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Have you no modesty, no maiden shame ? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Never having been married; not having had sexual intercourse; virgin; -- said usually of the woman, but sometimes of the man; as, a maiden aunt. “A surprising old maiden lady.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused. “Maiden flowers.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Full bravely hast thou fleshed
Thy maiden sword. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Used of a fortress, signifying that it has never been captured, or violated. T. Warton. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Maiden assize (Eng. Law), an assize which there is no criminal prosecution; an assize which is unpolluted with blood. It was usual, at such an assize, for the sheriff to present the judge with a pair of white gloves. Smart. --
Maiden name, the surname of a woman before her marriage. --
Maiden pink. (Bot.) See under Pink. --
Maiden plum (Bot.), a West Indian tree (Comocladia integrifolia) with purplish drupes. The sap of the tree is glutinous, and gives a persistent black stain. --
Maiden speech, the first speech made by a person, esp. by a new member in a public body. --
Maiden tower, the tower most capable of resisting an enemy. --
maiden voyage the first regular service voyage of a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Literally, an aunt who has never been married. Figuratively, it is a term used as the prototype of a person who is broadly naive and not wise in worldly ways; as, he knows as much about programming as my maiden aunt. [ PJC ]

n. A small widely branching Western wildflower (Collinsia parviflora) with tiny blue-and-white flowers; found from British Columbia to Ontaria and south to California and Colorado. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A slow-growing procumbent evergreen shrublet (Gaultheria hispidula) of Northern North America and Japan having white flowers and numerous white fleshy rough-hairy seeds.
Syn. -- creeping snowberry, moxie plum, Gaultheria hispidula. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) Any of various small to large terrestrial ferns of the genus Adiantum having very slender graceful stalks and delicate palmately branched fronds, especially (Adiantum pedatum). It is common in the United States, and is sometimes used in medicine. The name is also applied to other species of the same genus, as to the Venus-hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See maidenhair. [ PJC ]

n. A small rock-inhabiting fern (Asplenium trichomanes) of the North temperate zone and Hawaii, having pinnate fronds. [ WordNet 1.5 ]