• IPA: /ˈmeɪdən/

maiden (plural maidens)

1. (now chiefly literary) A girl or an unmarried young woman.
2. A female virgin.

   She's unmarried and still a maiden.

3. (obsolete, dialectal) A man with no experience of sex, especially because of deliberate abstention.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:13.4?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter iv], in Le Morte Darthur, book XI:

     As for that said sire Bors I wille be shryuen with a good wylle / Soo syr Bors was confessyd / and for al wymmen sir Bors was a vyrgyne / sauf for one / that was the doughter of kynge Brangorys / and on her he gat a child that hyghte Elayne / and sauf for her syre Bors was a clene mayden

4. A maidservant.
5. A clothes maiden.
6. (now rare) An unmarried woman, especially an older woman.
7. (horse racing) A racehorse without any victory, i.e. one having a "virgin record".
8. (horse racing) A horse race in which all starters are maidens.
9. (historical) A Scottish counterpart of the guillotine.
10. (cricket) A maiden over.
11. (obsolete) A machine for washing linen.
12. (Wicca) Alternative form of Maiden

• (unmarried (young) female) bachelorette

• maid

• French: jeune fille, jeune femme, demoiselle, pucelle (informal or dated)
• German: Jungfrau virgin, Mädchen, Maid (dated or poetic)
• Italian: pulzella, ragazza
• Portuguese: donzela, senhorita
• Russian: де́вушка
• Spanish: doncella (dated), señorita

• French: vierge, pucelle (informal)
• German: Jungfrau
• Portuguese: virgem
• Russian: де́вственница
• Spanish: doncella

maiden (not comparable)

1. Virgin.

   • a surprising old maiden lady

2. (of a female, human or animal) Without offspring.
3. Like or befitting a (young, unmarried) maiden.
   • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Have you no modesty, no maiden shame?

4. (figuratively) Being a first occurrence or event.

   The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.

   After Edmund Burke's maiden speech, William Pitt the Elder said Burke had "spoken in such a manner as to stop the mouths of all Europe" and that the Commons should congratulate itself on acquiring such a member.

5. (cricket) Being an over in which no runs are scored.
6. Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused.
   • 1613, William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     maiden flowers

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:

     Full bravely hast thou fleshed / Thy maiden sword.

7. (of a fortress) Never having been captured or violated.
8. (of a tree) Grown from seed and never pruned

• maidenly

• French: inaugural
• Portuguese: primeiro, inaugural
• Russian: пе́рвый

maiden (plural maidens)

1. (Wicca) One of the triune goddesses of the Lady in Wicca alongside the Crone and Mother representing a girl or a young woman
   • 2002, A.J. Drew, Wicca for Couples: Making Magick Together, page 90 ↗

     […] different stages of life as represented by our Lady as Maiden, Mother, and Crone, as well as our Lord as Master, Father, and Sage.

   • 2004, Aurora Greenbough, Cathy Jewell, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Spells and Spellcraft, page 9 ↗

     The Lady is often thought of as having three aspects: Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

• Master

1. Iron Maiden, a heavy metal band from England.