Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An unmarried girl or woman.
- n. A virgin.
- n. A machine resembling the guillotine, used in Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries to behead criminals.
- n. Sports A racehorse that has never won a race.
- n. Sports A maiden over.
- adj. Of, relating to, or befitting a maiden: a maiden blush.
- adj. Being an unmarried girl or woman: a maiden aunt.
- adj. Being a racehorse that has never won a race.
- adj. First or earliest: a maiden voyage; a maiden speech in the Senate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A maid, in any sense of that word. See maid.
- n. An animal or a thing that is young, new, inexperienced, untried, or untaken. Specifically
- n. The last handful of corn cut down by the reapers on a farm. It is dressed up with ribbons.
- n. A wisp of straw put into a hoop of iron, used by a blacksmith in watering his fire.
- n. An instrument of capital punishment formerly used. It consisted of a loaded blade or ax which moved in grooves in a frame about ten feet high. The ax was raised to the top of the frame and then let fall, severing the victim's head from his body.
- n. A mallet for beating linen, used in washing.
- Being a maid; belonging to the class of maids or virgins.
- Of or pertaining to a maid or to maids: as, maiden charms.
- Like a maid in any respect; virginal; chaste.
- Young; fresh; new; hitherto untried or unused; unsullied; unstained.
- To act or speak in a maidenly manner; behave modestly or demurely.
- n. A frame on which clothes are dried.
- n. plural See mingles.
Wiktionary
- n. A girl or an unmarried young woman.
- n. A female virgin.
- n. A man with no experience of sex, especially because of deliberate abstention.
- n. A maidservant.
- n. An unmarried woman, especially an older woman.
- n. A race horse without any victory ('virgin record').
- n. A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
- n. A maiden over.
- adj. virgin
- adj. without offspring
- adj. like/ fitting a (young, unmarried) maiden
- adj. describing a first occurrence or event
- adj. describing an over in which no runs are scored
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An unmarried woman; a girl or woman who has not experienced sexual intercourse; a virgin; a maid.
- n. A female servant.
- n. An instrument resembling the guillotine, formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals.
- n. A machine for washing linen.
- adj. Of or pertaining to a maiden, or to maidens; suitable to, or characteristic of, a virgin.
- adj. Never having been married; not having had sexual intercourse; virgin; -- said usually of the woman, but sometimes of the man.
- adj. Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused.
- adj. Used of a fortress, signifying that it has never been captured, or violated.
- v. To act coyly like a maiden; -- with
it as an indefinite object.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (cricket) an over in which no runs are scored
- adj. serving to set in motion
- n. an unmarried girl (especially a virgin)
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English mægden; see maghu- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“IT passeth for a general report of what was customary in former times, that the sheriff of the county used to present the judge with a pair of white gloves at those which we call maiden assizes, viz. when no malefactor is put to death therein; a great rarity (though usual in small) in large and populous countries.”
“In parts of India, the harvest maiden is Guari and She is represented by both an unmarried girl and a bunch of balsam plants.”
The Huffington Post: Donna Henes: Harvesting Mother Earth's Gifts of Life
“In this maiden is incoiporated all the experience of the race.”
“For two years we had been close; she had been so much my friend, she could not in maiden charity seal for me a so unwelcome fate, I had awakened her slumbering soul with my first look into the sphinx wonder of her eyes.”
“The fact that an iron maiden is a medieval torture device is also beside the point.”
“Actually, the fact that an iron maiden is a medieval torture device that pre-dates both rock and roll and comic books does little to invalidate the band's trademark claim.”
“But Kris, an iron maiden is a medieval torture device.”
“Next door, at Cruz Vega's place of business, the maiden is carved into a very large picture in which she is in an open meadow.”
“Showing us up to be A typical inept-lings while they swan in (most times un-asked) and mute whatever quite entertaining cataclysm that was descending down your road while stealing whichever apparently distressed maiden is hanging about the place.”
“A beautiful young maiden is plagued by her evil stepmother and finds refuge in the forest amongst seven dwarves.”

treeseed One aspect of the triple goddess in Wicca
See also mother and crone Feb 17, 2008
bilby Cricket jargon - 1. an over from which no runs are scored; 2. the first, eg. a maiden century. Nov 29, 2007