maidenhair
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈmeɪdənhɛː/
Noun

maidenhair

  1. (uncountable) a woman's pubic hair
  2. Either of two species of genus Adiantum of fern with delicate, hair-like stalks, especially Adiantum capillus-veneris
    • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society 2007, p. 178:
      Our common Maidenhair does from a number of hard black fibres, send forth a great many blacking shining brittle stalks, hardly a span long [...].
  3. Designating various types of moss or flowering plants.
    • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 318:
      The ‘maidenhair’ in maidenhair moss, for instance, does not refer to the hair on the maiden's head.
  4. (North America, now regional) Either of two ericaceous plants, the creeping snowberry or the checkerberry.
Synonyms Translations


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