Virginia
(vəˈdʒɪnɪə)
[f. L. virgin-, virgo virgin n. (in honour of Queen Elizabeth) + -ia1.]
With the various applications of the word cf. those of Virginian a.1
1. a. The name of that part of North America in which the first English settlement was made in 1607, subsequently one of the original thirteen States of the North American Union, used attrib. in Virginia colony, Virginia company, Virginia landscape, Virginia trade, etc.
| 1609 in Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) p. xcviii, I am bold to write the truth of some late accidentes, be falne his Maiesties Virginia collonye. 1611 Ibid. 641 It came to be apprehended by some of the Virginia Company. 1773 in Nairne Peerage Evidence (1874) 170 Copertners in a Virginia trade carryed on by them under the firm of Oswald Dennistoun and Company. 1781 Ann. Reg., Hist. 47/1 The Virginia militia gave the British troops a warm reception. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxix, [They] joyfully unloaded their Virginia goods, and replaced them with powder and shot. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 256/2 The most striking feature of thousands of square miles of Virginia landscape. |
b. In names of plants and trees, as
Virginia cedar,
Virginia corn,
Virginia ivy,
Virginia pea,
Virginia tobacco,
Virginia wheat;
Virginia bluebell,
cowslip, a perennial herb,
Mertensia virginica, of the family Boraginaceæ, native to eastern North America and bearing clusters of blue flowers;
cf. Virginian cowslip s.v. cowslip 2 e;
Virginia creeper,
Ampelopsis hederacea and
quinquefolia, common climbing plants of the family
Vitaceæ;
Virginia vine (see
quots.).
Also
Virginia snake-root,
Virginia spiderwort,
Virginia stock,
Virginia sumach,
Virginia witch-hazel: see the
ns.| 1934 Webster, *Virginia bluebell. 1939 Nat. Geogr. Mag. Aug. 236/2 The pale-blue flowers and rosy-pink buds of the Virginia bluebells..are clustered on slender branches. 1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Gardening Guide) 12/2 Virginia bluebells..can be purchased from special wild⁓flower nurseries. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Juniperus, The three Sorts of *Virginia Cedars..afford excellent Timber for many Uses. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 258/2 The principal timber trees..are..yellow or pitch pine; red or Virginia cedar. |
| 1621 in Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) 564 Whatsoeuer is said against the *Virginia Corne, they finde it doth better nourish than any prouision is sent thither. |
| [1826 W. Darlington Florula Cestrica 23 Pulmonaria..virginica..Virginian Cowslip.] 1901 N. L. Britton Man. Flora Northern States & Canada 771 *Virginia cowslip... In low meadows and along streams. 1944 G. L. Nute Lake Superior 293 By July 1 the Virginia cowslips are coming into bloom. 1968 Peterson & McKenny Field Guide to Wildflowers 322 Virginia cowslip... The nodding, trumpetlike flowers are pink in bud. |
| 1704 Petiver Gazophyl. ii. xiv, This adheres to Trees by its hoary fibres, as our *Virginia Creeper does to Walls by its tendrels. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 153 Train and nail climbers—to walls, &c. as virgin's bower, passion flower, Virginia creeper, &c. 1857 Henfrey Bot. §452 The species of Ampelopsis known as ‘Virginia Creepers’ exhibit some interesting phænomena. 1870 Dickens E. Drood ii, The Virginia creeper on the cathedral wall has showered half its deep-red leaves down on the pavement. |
| 1629 Parkinson Parad. 612 Vitis, seu potius Hedera Virginensis, the *Virginia Vine, or rather Iuie. |
| 1607 in Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) 97 We daily feasted with good bread, *Virginia pease, pumpions, and putchamins. |
| 1657 Coles Adam in Eden 333 Some have called the yellow Lupine Spanish Violets,..and..*Virginia Roses. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Virginia-Tobacco, the Tobacco-Plant growing in those Parts. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 115 Sow..cape-marigold, yellow sultan, Virginia tobacco, &c. |
| 1629 Parkinson Parad. 564 The *Virginia Vine..beareth small Grapes without any great store of iuice therein. Ibid. 612 This slender, but tall climing Virginia Vine (as it was first called; but Iuie, as it doth better resemble). |
| 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 36 The hill where their Corn is planted, called *Virginia-Wheat. 1688 Phil. Trans. XVII. 978 English Wheat (as they call it, to distinguish it from Maze, commonly called Virginia Wheat). |
c. In names of birds, insects, etc., as
Virginia bat,
Virginia chafer,
Virginia didapper,
Virginia frog,
Virginia goatsucker,
Virginia rail (
cf. rail n.3),
Virginia red-bird,
Virginia snap-beetle,
Virginia squirrel;
Virginia nightingale, the cardinal grosbeak.
| 1688 Phil. Trans. XVII. 991 The Night Raven, which some call the *Virginia Bat, is about the bigness of a Cuckow. |
| 1704 Petiver Gazophyl. Dec. iii. Tab. xxvii, Marshal's *Virginia Chaffer. |
| 1688 Phil. Trans. XVII. 997 Teale, Wigeon,..*Virginia-Didapers. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Virginia-Frog, a kind of Frog, that..makes a noise like the bellowing of a Bull. |
| 1783 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds II. ii. 595 *Virginia Goatsucker..inhabits Virginia in summer; arrives there towards the middle of April. |
| 1688 Phil. Trans. XVII. 995 Of *Virginia Nightingale, or red Bird, there are two sorts. 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3108/4 A Parcel of choice Virginia Nightingales, with choice Mock-Birds,..are to be sold by Tho. Bland. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Virginia-Nightingale, a Bird of a pure scarlet Colour, with a tuft on the Head. 1731 [see red a. and n.1 17 b]. 1808 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. (1831) II. 273 Numbers..having been carried over both to France and England, in which last country they are usually called Virginia nightingales. |
| 1783 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds II. ii. 777 Tetrao Virginianus, *Virginia Partridge, smaller than the Common Partridge. |
| 1828 C. L. Bonaparte Genera N. Amer. Birds 334 The *Virginia Rail..inhabits throughout North America. 1914 Chambers's Jrnl. July 439/1 The Virginia rail..is rare. 1945 Bull. Mass. Audubon Soc. Mar. 63 At the Sanctuary on this date we might get the Virginia Rail. |
| 1808 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. (1831) II. 276 They are generally known by the names red-bird, *Virginia red-bird,..and crested red-bird. |
| 1702 Petiver Gazophyl. i. §10 The Velvet-eyed *Virginia Snap-Beetle. |
| 1609 in Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) p. c, I tould him of the *Virginia squirills which they say will fly. |
d. Miscellaneous combs., as
Virginia cigarette,
Virginia ham,
Virginia tobacco (
cf. 2);
Virginia fence, a rail fence made in a zig-zag manner;
to make a V. fence (see
quot. 1861);
Virginia reel, a country-dance.
| 1919 Honey Pot I. i. Advt. facing p. 1, The best *Virginia cigarette I have ever smoked. |
| 1745 Franklin Drinker's Dict. Wks. 1887 II. 26 He [being drunk] makes a *Virginia fence. 1789 T. Anburey Trav. II. 324 The New Englanders have a saying when a man is in liquor, he is making Virginia fences. 1826 T. Flint Recollections 206 The universal fence split rails, laid in a worm trail, or what is known in the North by the name of Virginia fence. 1844 P. H. Gosse in Zoologist II. 708 The fences, which are almost wholly made of rails set up in the zig-zag fashion so general in the north, commonly called a Virginia fence. 1861 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. ii. Introd., Poet. Wks. (1912) 285 ‘Virginia fence, to make a:’ to walk like a drunken man. |
| 1833 *Virginny ham [see mudlark n. 1]. 1908 Virginia ham [see chicken gumbo s.v. chicken n.1 8]. 1976 Virginia ham [see Virginia tobacco below.]. |
| 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 497 *Virginia reel, the common name throughout the United States for the old English ‘country-danse’. |
| 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 14/1 If you steep good *Virginia Tobacco in the Water,..it will be much more effectual. 1747 W. Douglas Brit. Settlements N. Amer. (1760) I. 116 Virginia tobacco, and Brazil, and Varinas tobacco, differ upon this account. 1976 Times 3 Jan. 11/6 Smells of herbs and Virginia tobacco fill the air..the menu offered..Virginia ham steak from Surrey County. |
2. ellipt. A variety of tobacco grown and manufactured in Virginia. Hence, a cigarette made of Virginia tobacco.
Cf. virgin n. 10. Also
attrib.| 1618 in Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) 541 There are so many sofisticating Tobaco-mungers in England, were it neuer so bad, they would sell it for Verinas, and the trash that remaineth should be Virginia. 1650 B. Discolliminium 47 My bare purse will reach no higher then to Democraticall Virginia, which many times tasts like some Levellers old leathern linings. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 9 (1713) I. 53 The Reforming Troops..offering the Incense of Virginia, and the Drink-offering of the Bottle, to their Idol of the Long-sword. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 329 ¶6 He bid him stop by the way at any good Tobacconist's, and take in a Roll of their best Virginia. 1803 Sir A. Boswell Spirit of Tintoc xix, He's ta'en his spleuchan frae his breeks For a quid o' the right Virginia. 1864 Hawthorne S. Felton (1883) 301 A..German pipe..puffed out volumes of smoke, filling the pleasant western breeze with the fragrance of some excellent Virginia. 1964 D. E. Middleton in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 205 Now we can enjoy another of Blackie's virginias. 1971 R. Dentry Encounter at Kharmel ix. 171 Do you mind if I smoke my Virginias? |
3. Astr. One of the minor planets.
| 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. 328 Minor Planets [include]..48. Doris. 49. Pales. 50. Virginia. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 807/2 Virginia [discovered] 1857, October 4 [by] Ferguson [at] Washington. |