I. ˈmād ə n noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mǣden, mægden, from mægth, mægeth; akin to Old Saxon magath maiden, Old English mago, magu son, man, servant, Middle Dutch maget, maecht maiden, Old High German magad maiden, Old Norse mögr son, youth, mær maiden, Gothic magus boy, child, magaths virgin, Old Irish mug serf, macc son, Latvian mač small
1. : maid , virgin
supposedly a place for the maidens of that era to catch a beau — Frances H. Eliot
2. obsolete : maidservant
3. archaic : a former Scottish beheading device resembling the guillotine
4. Scotland : harvest doll
5. : maiden over
6. : a mare, stallion, or gelding that has never won a race
7. chiefly Britain : whip 3a
II. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from maiden, n.
1. of a girl or woman
a. : unmarried
maiden aunt
b. : virgin
2. : of, relating to, or befitting a maiden
maiden innocence
maiden loveliness
3. : first , earliest
convulses his audience with his maiden speech — British Book News
her maiden voyage — H.A.Chippendale
4.
a. : intact , fresh , untaken , untried , unused
records were of any and all manufacture … some were maiden ; none had been played more than six times — C.G.Burke
the maiden city (as it was named from its successful resistance to the siege) — Sam Pollock
b. : of or relating to a horse that has never won a race
yesterday she shed her maiden certificate when she won the sixth race — Johannesburg Sunday Express
c. English law : of or relating to an assize or session without cases to be tried or formerly one resulting in no sentence of death
5. of a female animal
a. : never yet mated
b. : never having borne young
Synonyms: see youthful