▪ I. maiden, n. and a.
(ˈmeɪd(ə)n)
Forms: 1 mæᵹden, mǽden, Northumb. mai(ᵹ)den, 2 mæȝdon, 2–3 mei-, meyden, 3 mæiden, Orm. maȝȝdenn, 4–7 mayden, (4 maþen, 4–6 ma-, mai-, maj-, maydan, -din(e, -don, -dun, -dyn, 6 madne, 9 maden), 3– maiden.
[OE. mæᵹden str. neut. = OHG. magatîn, (MHG. magetîn; the mod.G. mädchen is not identical):—OTeut. type *magadîno{supm}:—pre-Teut. *mogh{supw}ot{imacacu}no-m, a dim. formation (see -en) from *mogh{supw}óti-s maiden, girl, represented by Goth. magaþ-s, OHG. magad (MHG. maget, mod.G. magd, maidservant), OS. magath (MDu. maghet, Du. maagd), OE. mæᵹeð, mæᵹð maid, virgin; related to pre-Teut. *moghu-s boy, young man (OIrish mug slave, Avestic magu young man), whence Goth. magu-s, ON. mǫg-r, OS., OE. magu. Cf. may n.1]
A. n.
1. a. A girl; a young (unmarried) woman; = maid 1. (Not now in colloquial use exc. dial.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 24 Gað heonun nys þys mæden [c1160 Hatton mæᵹdon] dead soðlice ac heo slæpð. a 1100 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 310/9 Puella, mæden, oððe ᵹeong wifman. c 1205 Lay. 2214 He nom of þan monkunne þreo swiðe feire mæidene. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2749 Hirdes wulden ðe maidenes deren, Oc moyses ðor hem gan weren. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4966 Alle men sal ryse þan þat ever had life, Man and woman, mayden and wyfe. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 58 A madyne com amange þam all of hebrow borne In-to þe land. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1363 Maydons for mornyng haue þere mynde loste. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 580 In Lanryk duelt a gentill woman thar, A madyn myld. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence vii, A maiden of a noble house and old. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. iii 155 (Gods mercie maiden) dos it curd thy blood To say I am thy mother? 1710 Tatler No. 252 ¶5 We..have a Boy and a Girl: The Lad Seventeen, the Maiden Sixteen. 1853 M. Arnold Scholar-Gipsy ix, Maidens, who from the distant hamlets come To dance around the Fyfield elm in May. 1855 Cornwall 227 ‘Maidens’, as the Cornish people term girls from 16 to 17 years of age. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiv. 173 A vigorous English maiden might have ascended the [ice] fall without much difficulty. 1887 Bowen Virg., æneid ii. 238 Round it advance in procession unwedded maiden and boy. |
b. A female child.
Obs. exc. dial.| c 1200 Ormin 4107 To clippen swa þe cnapess shapp, & toffrenn lac forr maȝȝdenn. |
c. the answer to a maiden's prayer, an eligible bachelor. Also
transf.| 1935 Mademoiselle Aug. 15 Here, you Freshmen, Seniors, et al, is the answer to a maiden's prayer. 1957 J. Fleming Maiden's Prayer ii. 109 You're the answer to a maiden's prayer, dear heart. No need for you to do a stroke of work, you can marry money and live the life of a gentleman. 1971 J. Brunner Honky in Woodpile xi. 83, I was still in college. Thought he was the greatest..answer to a maiden's prayer! 1974 A. Price Other Paths ii. i. 112 You're the answer to a maiden's prayer. |
2. a. A virgin;
spec. of the Virgin Mary (
† maiden Mary);
= maid 2. Now
rare.
| a 1035 Laws of Cnut ii. c. 52 (53) Gif hwa mæden nyd⁓næme, si quis violenter virginem opprimat. a 1175 Lamb. Hom. 77 Þet halie meiden onswerede and seide Quomodo [etc.]. c 1200 Ormin 2102 Þeȝȝ wenndenn þatt ȝho wære wif, Acc ȝho wass maȝȝdenn clene. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 3/68 I-bore he was of þe maydene Marie! c 1300 Cursor M. 28483 (Cott.), I..forced sum woman with nede, and maþens reft þair maþenhede. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 319 Þe kyng ȝaf here lond for to bulde tweie abbayes of maydons. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2940 Þat comes but to harme, Gers maidnes be mart, mariage fordone. a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. 27 Goddes sone tuke flesche and blode of þe blyssed maydene Marie. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xviii. xix. 760 A clene mayden I am for hym and for alle other. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 88 Why then you are no maiden. |
b. transf. A man that has always abstained from sexual intercourse;
= maid 2 c.
Obs.| c 1300 Havelok 995 Of bodi was he mayden clene. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 173 Maydenes and maydenes macche ȝow togideres. c 1440 Jacob's Well 277 He was a munk and priour of his hows, & a clene mayden. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xi. xiv, Syre Percyuale..was a parfyte clene mayden. 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. D iij, Y⊇ grete nombre of his apostles were maydens. |
3. An unmarried woman, spinster;
= maid 3.
Obs. exc. dial. old maiden (rare)
= old maid.
to go maiden: to remain single.
| 1775 Tender Father I. 139 This gentlewoman was an old maiden, and possessed many particularities. a 1802 Cruel Sister xiv. in Child Ballads I. 128/2 Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair Garrd me gang maiden evermair. |
4. A maid-servant, a female attendant. (
Cf. maid 4.)
arch. and
dial. † maiden of honour = maid of honour.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 159 Forþon þu nu sceawa þines mæᵹ(d)enes eaþmodnesse. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8965 Hire maidens broȝte hire clene water euere wanne heo lete. 13.. Coer de L. 880 The kynges doughter lay in her bower, With her maydenys of honour. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 630 Charite and Chastite ben his chief maydenes. 1434 E.E. Wills (1882) 97 To Aneys hir mayden, a russet kyrtell. a 1550 Freiris of Berwik 251 in Dunbar's Poems 293 He bad the madin kindill on the fyre. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. 113 He requyres in mariage ane of the Quenes madnes. 1611 Bible Ps. cxxiii. 2 As the eyes of a maiden [looke] vnto the hand of her mistresse. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 446 The Ladies of the Court, and Maydens of Honor. |
5. The instrument, similar to the guillotine, formerly used in Edinburgh for beheading criminals; applied
occas. to the
Halifax gibbet (see
gibbet 1 c).
| 1581 in Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 86, June 2, 1581.—The Earle of Morton was beheaded with the axe of the Maiden he himself had caused make. 1721 Ramsay Genty Tibby iii, My wyzen with the maiden shore. 1722 Wodrow Hist. Suffer. Ch. Scot. II. 545 Falling down on his Knees upon the Stool, [the Earl of Argyle] embraced the Maiden..very pleasantly. 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 121 The Guillotine..(a French edition of our Halifax Maiden). 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 565 The rude old guillotine of Scotland, called the Maiden. |
6. Sc. a. The last handful of corn cut in the harvest-field, often rudely shaped into the figure of a girl and decorated with ribbons (
cf. kirn-baby). Also
harvest maiden.
| 1786 Har'st Rig cxxxvi. (1794) 42 For now the Maiden has been win, And Winter is at last brought in. 1797 Statist. Acc. Scotl. XIX. 550 The fortunate lass who took the maiden was the Queen of the feast. 1814 J. Train Mountain Muse 95 A former neighbour..Who had with them for wedding bruises run, And from them oft the harvest maiden won. |
b. The harvest-home and the feast with which it was celebrated.
| 1806 A. Douglas Poems 144 (Jam.) The master has them bidden Come back again, be't foul or fair 'Gainst gloamin', to the Maiden. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 13 Mar. 2/1 We speak always of our Harvest Homes as ‘Maidens’. |
7. † a. (See
quot. 1688.)
b. dial. A clothes-horse.
c. north. dial. A washerwoman's dolly.
| a. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 286/2 The Maidens or Damsels, the two Stands in which the Spindle turns. |
| b. 1859 E. Waugh ‘Come whoam to thi Childer & Me’ 28 Poems 55 So aw iron't o my clooas reet weel, An' aw hang'd 'em o' th maiden to dry. 1881 [see maiden-maker in 10]. |
| c. 1752 Gentl. Mag. XXII. 32 A Machine for washing of Linnen, called a Yorkshire Maiden. 1781 Rees Cycl., Maiden..the name of a machine first used in Yorkshire, and since introduced into other places, for washing of linen. [The apparatus as described consists of a dolly fitted to a covered wooden tub. This use of the name has app. not survived.] 1829 J. Hunter Hallamsh. Gloss., Maiden, an instrument used in the laundry. 1888 Sheffield Gloss. s.v., The maiden is sometimes called a peggy or dolly. |
† 8. The name of a fish. (?
= maid n. 8.)
Obs.| 1555 Eden Decades 269 Dryed fysshe as soles maydens playces. [1624 Heywood Captives ii. ii. in Bullen Old Plays (1885) IV. 145 For whom weare you a fishinge? Mild. Marry, for maydens;..But, my gutts, Howe they are sweld with sea brine!] |
9. a. Short for
maiden horse,
over,
race,
tree (see B).
| 1807 Sir J. Malcolm in Life (1856) I xiv. 379 note, Grant and I have two horses for the two first maidens. 1880 Times 28 Sept. 11/5 [Cricket] Shaw joined Selby, and when a couple of maidens had been sent down luncheon intervened. 1894 Field 9 June 850/2 A plantation of young apple trees,..mostly maidens and two-year-olds, was badly attacked by green aphis. 1898 Stratford-on-Avon Herald 11 Feb. 4/4 The Warwickshire Hunt Cup... For horses five years old and upwards, maidens at the time of closing. |
b. A strawberry plant bearing its first crop. Also
attrib.| 1928 Daily Express 28 May 5/3 The ‘runners’ are laid from the ‘maidens’ or last year's [strawberry-]beds. 1974 Times 13 July 11/3 Another advantage of growing only maiden strawberries is that it gives us one more crop to work into our programme of crop rotation... I have now decided..to grow only maidens—that is, to take one crop off a plant and then discard it. |
c. Short for
maiden bell (see sense B. 4 f).
| 1909 Daily Chron. 1 Oct. 7/5 The High Wycombe ‘tenor’ ..thus issues proudly from the Whitechapel Foundry a ‘maiden’. |
10. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
maiden-blush;
maiden-catching,
maiden-eyed,
maiden-faced,
maiden-folded,
maiden-furled,
maiden-hued,
maiden tongued adjs.;
maiden-maker,
maiden-monger;
maiden-bark, ? the bark of saplings;
maiden-feast, the feast after cutting the maiden (sense 6);
† maiden-gear,
† -gem, virginity;
† maiden-heart, a variety of pear;
maiden-meek a., meek as befits a maiden;
† maiden-nut (see
quot.);
maiden-rip Sc. = 6;
maiden-servant = sense 4;
maiden-skate Sc. (see
quot.);
† maidens' light, a light (in a church) maintained by maidens;
† maidens' milk = lac virginis;
maiden-thought poet., Keats's term for the stage of human development after ‘the infant or thoughtless Chamber’, one of innocent, untarnished hope;
maiden-widowed a.,
nonce-wd., widowed while still a maiden.
| 1832 Planting 92 in Lib. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Tiller or Tellar, a shoot selected..to stand..for *maiden bark. |
| 1605 Breton Soules Immort. Crowne (Grosart) 7/2 She shewes her there the *Maiden-blush complection, Betwixt the cherrie Red, and snowie White. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 14. ix. (1669) 36/2 His Maiden-blush modesty will not suffer him to declare his sin. 1861 J. Ruffini Dr. Antonio i, The maidenblush clearness of the skin. |
| 1957 Auden & Kallman Magic Flute i. i. 28 Had I a *maiden-catching net, Fair maids by dozens I should daily get. |
| 1930 J. Masefield Wanderer of Liverpool 24 The *maiden-eyed morning. |
| 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. vii. (1593) 151 Boreas sonnes had chaste Away the *maiden-faced foules that did the vittels waste. |
| 1797 Statist. Acc. Scotl. XIX. 550 It was, till very lately, the custom to give what was called a *Maiden Feast, upon the finishing of the harvest. |
| 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 100 Then lets her black hair loose, the darkness fall About her from her *maiden-folded bands. |
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland xxxiv, in Poems (1967) 62 The heaven-flung, heart-fleshed, *maiden-furled Miracle-in-Mary-of-flame. |
| 1719 D'Urfey Pills I. 130 My father takes me for a Saint, Tho' weary of my *Maiden Geer. |
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. x. 148 Chaste Winifrid: who chose Before her *mayden-gem she forcibly would lose [etc.]. |
| 1721 Mortimer Husb. II. 295 The Lewis Pear, or by some the *Maiden-heart. |
| 1913 E. F. Benson Thorley Weir i. 21 The dog-rose spread its *maiden-hued face skywards. |
| 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 143 *Maiden Maker (Clothes Horse). |
| 1847 Tennyson Princess iii. 118 Yet *maiden-meek, I prayed Concealment. |
| a 1625 Fletcher Custom of Country i. i, This thing you study to betray your child to. This *Maiden-monger. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Maiden Nut, the inner one of two nuts on the same screw; the outer is the jam-nut. |
| 1882 J. Walker Jaunt to Auld Reekie, etc. 12 She grips some stalks and twists the *maiden-rip In triple strands. |
| 1533 Gau Richt Vay (1888) 11 Thou sal noth desir thy nichtburs wiff *madin seruand beist or ony thing quhilk pertenis to hime. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. iv. 19 If the wench, (for so she calls us maiden-servants) takes care of herself she'll improve. |
| 1810 Neill List Fishes 28 (Jam.) The young both of the Thornback and the Skate are denominated *Maiden-skate. |
| 1547–8 in Swayne Sarum Church-w. Acc. (1896) 275 For viij li. of wex for the *Maydens light vs. |
| a 1400–50 Stockh. Med. MS. 4 A water þat is clepyd *maydinis mylke. |
| 1818 Keats Let. 3 May (1958) I. 281 We no sooner get into the second Chamber, which I shall call the Chamber of *Maiden-Thought, than we become intoxicated with the light and the atmosphere. 1954 L. MacNeice Autumn Sequel 22 The Customs Office of Maiden-thought. |
| 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 100 *Maiden tongu'd he was, and thereof free. |
| 1592 ― Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 135, I a Maid, die *Maiden-widowed. |
b. In various plant-names;
† maiden-lip(s,
Echinospermum Lappula;
† maiden mercury, a name for male plants of
Mercurialis annua;
maiden oak,
Quercus sessiliflora;
maiden pink,
Dianthus deltoides;
maiden plum (tree), a name given to two West Indian trees, (
a)
Comocladia integrifolia, (
b)
Chrysobalanus;
maiden rose = maiden's blush;
† maidens' honesty,
Clematis vitalba;
maiden's wreath, a perennial herb of the genus
Francoa, bearing pink or white flowers in spikes or racemes;
cf. bridal wreath (
bridal a. 2 c). Also
maidenhair,
maidenweed.
| 1589 Rider Bibl. Schol. 1748 *Maiden lips, or tasil, lappago. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lii 78 This kinde may be called in English..Daughters Phyllon, or *Mayden Mercury. |
| 1848 Phytologist III. 883 note, The Quercus sessiliflora they [woodmen] call White Oak and *Maiden Oak. |
| 1755 B. Stillingfl. Cal. Flora 7 July, Pinks, *maiden, Dianthus deltoides. 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 410 Maiden Pink. Sandy meadows, pastures, and heaths. 1882 J. Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. 476 At Makerstoun Crags..the spindle-tree, maiden-pink,..and the common feverfew grew. |
| 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 131 The *Maiden-Plumb-Tree. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 318 Maiden Plumb, Chrysobalanus. 1864 Grisebach Flora W. Ind. 785 Maiden-plum, Comocladia integrifolia. |
| 1827 G. Darley Sylvia 102 Here's a garland of red *maiden-roses for you. 1832 Miss Mitford Village Ser. v. 89 She has just as much colour as any woman ought to have—the maiden-rose tint. |
| a 1691 Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847) 49 Wild vetch, *maiden's honesty, polypodium [etc.]. 1691 Ray Ibid. 50 Calver-keys, hare's-parseley, mayden's-honesty, are countrey names unknown to me. |
| 1893 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden (ed. 3) 419/1 Francoa (*Maiden's Wreath).—Chilian plants of the Saxifrage family...They are rather tender. 1908 G. Jekyll in Colour Flower Garden xiii. 116 Maiden's Wreath (Francoa ramosa) is a plant for many uses. The foliage, though sparing in quantity, is distinct and handsome. The long flower-stems are flung out with a kind of determination of character. 1952 A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 198 Francoa (Maiden's Wreath; Bridal Wreath). |
B. adj. (from appositive and attributive uses of the
n.).
Cf. virgin.
I. Literal uses.
1. Appositive uses.
a. Unmarried; now chiefly in
maiden lady,
maiden sister: see also
maiden aunt.
† b. Of a child: Female; see
maiden-child (
obs.).
c. Virgin; sometimes said of men (
obs.).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5546 (Cott.) Þe knau barns..þai suld..sla, Þe maiden barns þai suld lat ga. 1300–1400 Ibid. 21019 (Gött.) Iohn, maiden saint, iam broþer, [was] mar luued wid crist þan ani oþer. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6080 Ȝyf an husbond chyldryn haue, One or two, mayden or knaue. c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 196 And euerich kniȝt [ches] his leman Of þat gentil maiden wiman. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. viii. 8 b, The Moorishe women and mayden slaues. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. (Arb.) 192 To blazon foorth the Brytton mayden Queene. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 38 Thou Maiden youth, be vanquisht by a Maide. 1640 Wits Recreat. §166 She will..sit at dinner like a mayden-bride. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. xxvii. 60 A new tomb it was, and fit it should be for that virgin body, or maiden-corpse, as one calls it. 1765 in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 59 A cricket-match was played..by eleven married against eleven maiden women. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. i, Here, now, is a maiden sister of his. 1798 Monthly Mag. VI. 75 [Died] At Windsor Castle, Mrs. Hannah Corbett, a maiden lady. 1852 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. i. 269 The girl-like maiden-mother bowed down before the crib. |
2. Of or pertaining to a maiden, or to maidenhood; befitting a maiden, having the qualities of a maiden.
maiden name: the surname borne by a married woman before her marriage.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. iv. 47, I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here. Ibid. v. iv. 52 Joan of Arc..Whose Maiden-blood, thus rigorously effus'd, Will cry for Vengeance at the Gates of Heauen. 1592 ― Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 86 The maske of night is on my face, Else would a Maiden blush bepaint my cheeke. 1601 ― Twel. N. v. i. 262 Ile bring you to a Captaine in this Towne, Where lye my maiden weeds. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iv. ii. 169 Strew me ouer With Maiden Flowers, that all the world may know I was a chaste Wife, to my Graue. 1648 Herrick Hesper., To Anne Soame, The meanest part of her Smells like the maiden-pomander. 1689 S. Sewall Diary (1878) I. 305 Visited Cousin Powers, and Cous. Lapworth, whose maiden name was Ann Lee. 1700 Dryden Cinyras & Myrrha 113 The tender sire who saw her blush and cry Ascrib'd it all to maiden-modesty. 1773 Life N. Frowde 5, I was baptized by her [the mother's] maiden Name Neville. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. iv, Wake, Maid of Lorn! the moments fly, Which yet that maiden-name allow. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby v. vi, Not..a word that could call forth a maiden blush. 1862 Borrow Wild Wales III. v. 41, I asked her her maiden name. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 366 Her maiden name was Jemima Brown And she lived with her mother in Irishtown. |
3. Of female animals: Uncoupled, unmated.
| 1840 Boston Advertiser 30 June 3/4, I killed two sheep; one was a maiden ewe, and the other a wether. 1885 Bell's Life 15 June 1/1 To be Sold, Two Maiden Three Year Old Fillies. 1892 Stratford-on-Avon Herald 18 Nov. 4/1 To the owner and feeder of the best Pair of..Maiden Sows. |
II. Figurative uses.
4. That has yielded no results.
a. Of an assize, circuit, session: Formerly, one at which no prisoner was condemned to death; now, one at which there are no cases for trial.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Maiden-sessions, when none are Hang'd. 1742 Gentl. Mag. July 386 Ended the sessions at the Old Bailey, which proved a maiden one, none having been capitally convicted. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 17 Apr., The judge was presented with a pair of white gloves, in consideration of its being a maiden circuit. 1847 Halliwell s.v., Maiden-assize. 1868 Daily Tel. 16 Apr., It is nearly half a century since there has been a maiden sessions at Oxford. |
b. Of a game,
esp. Cricket of an over: One in which no runs are scored.
| 1598 Florio s.v. Marcio,..a lurch or a maiden set at any game. 1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field iv. 58 In point of style the old players did not play the steady game with maiden overs as at present. 1864 Daily Tel. 16 May, Half-a-dozen ‘maiden overs’ in succession, every ball dead on the middle stump, and yet played steadily back again to the bowler. 1893 W. S. Gilbert Utopia 11, An occasional ‘maiden over’. |
c. Of a tide: One on which no vessels enter or leave the dock.
| 1897 Daily Tel. 30 Nov. 10/2 Hull.—There was to-day a maiden tide, no vessel being able either to enter or to leave, owing to the storm and flood. |
d. (See
quot.)
| 1900 New Cent. Rev. VII. 374, 7 was called the maiden number, because within the decade it has no factors or product. |
e. Of a horse, etc.: That has never won a prize. Hence of a prize or a race: Offered or open to maiden horses, etc.
| 1760 R. Heber Horse Matches ix. 40 All Maiden Horses favoured 2 lb. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. i. xiii. (ed. 2) 364 A Maiden horse or mare is one that has never won. 1886 York Herald 10 Aug. 7/5 Two Miles Maiden Bicycle Handicap. 1896 Daily News 17 July 3/4 The maiden class for horses that have never won a first prize before. |
f. In Bell-founding: (see
quots.).
| 1901 H. E. Bulwer Gloss. Technical Terms Bells 2 Maiden bell, a bell that requires no tuning after it comes from the mould. 1910 Encycl. Brit. III. 688/1 The metal is then boiled and run molten into the mould...When extricated it ought to be scarcely touched and should hardly require tuning. This is called its maiden state. 1912 H. B. Walters Church Bells Eng. ii. 47 Sometimes a whole peal used to be turned out so nearly correct that no tuning was needed; such bells were known as a ‘maiden peal’. |
5. That has not been conquered, tried, worked, etc.
a. Of a town, castle, fortress, etc.: That has never been taken, ‘virgin’.
The appellation
Maiden Castle (
quot. 1639) given to Edinburgh
prob. did not originally mean ‘virgin fortress’, as in Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th c.) it appears as
Castrum Puellarum, ‘maidens' castle’. Several ancient earthworks in England are also called Maiden Castle: the sense may possibly be ‘a fortress so strong as to be capable of being defended by maidens’; there may have been an allusion to some forgotten legend.
Cf. the equivalent
Ger. name
Magdeburg.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 408 Her breasts..A paire of maiden worlds vnconquered. 1601 J. Wheeler Treat. Comm. 30 Tournay..at that time termed the Maiden Citie. 1631 J. Taylor (Water P.) Turn Fort. Wheel (Halliw.) 9 Victorie forsook him for ever since he ransacked the maiden town of Magdenburg. 1639 Drummond of Hawthornden Sp. for Edinburgh Wks. (1711) 216 Relieving king James III. when he was beleaguer'd in his maiden-castle. 1648 J. Bond Eschol 27 Those parts of the Kingdome which had hitherto been untoucht, the Mayden Counties, as they call them, have been now most of all defloured. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, France IV. 26 [Abbeville] is called The maiden town, because it was never taken by an enemy. 1802 Wordsw. Sonn. Extinct. Venet. Repub., She was a maiden City, bright and free. |
b. Of a plant or tree: (
a) That has grown from seed, not from a stock; (
b) That has not been budded, lopped, pruned, or transplanted.
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 22/1 Though envy, avarice, time, your tombs throw down, With maiden-lawrells nature will them crown. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 320 The unset Leek, or Maiden-leek, is not so hot as the knopped ones. 1763 Burn Eccl. Law II. 413 Maiden trees of beech proceeding from stools above 20 years growth. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. 1095 In cutting-wood one maden standard is left to each lugg or forty-nine square yards. 1832 Planting 91 in Lib. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III. Maiden-plant.—A young tree raised from seed, in opposition to one produced from an old root or stub. 1900 Brit. Med. Jrnl. No. 2080. 1367 The child so suffering [from congenital hernia] is passed naked through a cleft maiden ash on a Sunday morning at sunrise. |
c. Of soil, metals, etc.: That has never been disturbed, ploughed, or worked. Also
maiden-wax, ‘virgin’ wax (
= F.
cire vierge,
Du. maagdenwas), wax taken from the comb without melting.
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 259 There is Mayden-gold so called because it was never in the fire. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 50/2 Cramps done over with Maiden-wax..never rot. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 34 You work on fresh maiden Ground, that has not been fouled or incumbered with Stones. 1812 Sir R. C. Hoare Anc. South Wilts. 16 Maiden downs, by which I mean all land untouched by the plough. 1849 Florist 43 Refreshing my beds annually with a few barrowfuls of maiden earth mixed with pig or horse dung. 1878 Archæol. Cantiana XII. 8 I found the earth was almost entirely maiden soil. 1897 Daily News 23 Apr. 3/1 Much of it [coal] was in its ‘maiden state’—that is, had not been worked over in the past. |
d. Of a soldier, etc.; also of a weapon: Untried.
| 1596 Shakes. I Hen. IV, v. iv. 132 Full bravely hast thou flesht thy Maiden sword. 1603 Drayton Odes xvii. 102 Though but a Maiden Knight. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §291 The Horse he put under the Command of his Brother, the Lord John Somerset, a maiden Soldier too. 1834 L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 15 He had not as yet fleshed his maiden sword. 1838 Lytton Alice iv. v, The air rather of a martyr than a maiden placeman. 1842 Tennyson Sir Galahad 61 A maiden knight—to me is given Such hope, I know not fear. |
6. That is the first of its kind; made, used, etc. for the first time.
Occas. in sense
early,
earliest.
maiden speech: the first speech delivered in the House by a Member of Parliament.
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions Pref. 20 He but borowyng their woordes, bryngeth it foorthe for a mayden booke. 1622 Cullis Stat. Sewers v. (1647) 219 Your Reader took in hand to read upon a Maiden-law, which never before this time abide [sic] his Exposition in any Inns of Court. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 122, I send one of the maiden Copies heerwith to attend you. 1786 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes to R. A.'s ii. But not a single maiden dish, poor gentleman, of flesh or fish. 1794 Hist. in Ann. Reg. 61 Mr. Canning, in his maiden speech (according to the technical language of the house) said [etc.]. 1798 Sporting Mag. XII. 4 A maiden deer was turned out at Tower Hill. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 261 The usual baits are the tail-part of a maiden lob-worm. a 1813 A. Wilson Foresters Poet. Wks. (1846) 211 Fresh on his maiden cruise to see the world. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 213 The maiden bite of the artificial grasses and white clover. 1825 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 284 This was my maiden day at English black game shooting. 1842 H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. i. 4 The same year was signalised by his maiden publication. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. I. i. i. 20 It was at this time..that I took my maiden fee. 1883 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Aug. 527/2 In the second year the planter gets a very small crop called the maiden-crop. 1884 Times (weekly ed.) 31 Oct. 19/4 The..new steamship..sailed from Plymouth..on her maiden trip to the Antipodes. 1901 Scotsman 11 Mar. 8/7 The..steamer..was on her maiden voyage from London to China. |
▪ II. maiden, v. (
ˈmeɪd(ə)n)
[f. maiden n.] † 1. In
phr. to maiden it: to act like a maiden; to be coy.
Obs.| 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. iii. iii. 5 For had I mayden'd it, as many use, Loath for to graunt, but loather to refuse. |
2. trans. (
dial.) To wash clothes with a ‘maiden’. Hence
maidening-pot,
maiden-tub.
| 1839 Bywater Sheffield Dial. 132 Salla do yo pull toud maidnin tub tot table. 1890 Sheffield Daily Tel. 11 Apr. 7/1 The child was standing near a maidening pot half full of water. |