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MAIDEN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An unmarried girl (especially a virgin)
Synonyms:
maid; maiden
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("maiden" is a kind of...):
fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman (a young female)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "maiden"):
damoiselle; damosel; damozel; damsel; demoiselle (a young unmarried woman)
Instance hyponyms:
Io ((Greek mythology) a maiden seduced by Zeus; when Hera was about to discover them together Zeus turned her into a white heifer)
Derivation:
maidenhood (the childhood of a girl)
maidenly (befitting or characteristic of a maiden)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(cricket) an over in which no runs are scored
Synonyms:
maiden; maiden over
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("maiden" is a kind of...):
over ((cricket) the division of play during which six balls are bowled at the batsman by one player from the other team from the same end of the pitch)
Domain category:
cricket (a game played with a ball and bat by two teams of 11 players; teams take turns trying to score runs)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Serving to set in motion
Example:
the liner's maiden voyage
Synonyms:
first; inaugural; initiative; initiatory; maiden
Classified under:
Similar:
opening (first or beginning)
Context examples:
She asked her, at different times, how many sisters she had, whether they were older or younger than herself, whether any of them were likely to be married, whether they were handsome, where they had been educated, what carriage her father kept, and what had been her mother's maiden name?
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
We had, however, an aunt, my mother’s maiden sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady’s house.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He knew there was singing among the trees and that the maidens were dancing in the moonlight, but he could not see them.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
The king had promised that he who would venture should have his daughter to wife, and she was the most beautiful maiden the sun shone on.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Alleyne started with astonishment as he recognized the very maiden who had suffered from his brother's violence in the forest.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The maiden lady is a Miss Norton, rich, cultivated, and kind.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
This sickened her of America, and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner, in Middlesex.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The next morning, after breakfast, the green maiden came to fetch Dorothy, and she dressed her in one of the prettiest gowns, made of green brocaded satin.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Also is there bad water at Cambell Fort, where the Yukon goes slim like a maiden, and the water is fast, and the currents rush this way and that and come together, and there are whirls and sucks, and always are the currents changing and the face of the water changing, so at any two times it is never the same.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
How they affected my aunt, nobody knew; for immediately upon the separation, she took her maiden name again, bought a cottage in a hamlet on the sea-coast a long way off, established herself there as a single woman with one servant, and was understood to live secluded, ever afterwards, in an inflexible retirement.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
