Pronunciation Noun
virgin (plural virgins)
- A person who has never had sexual intercourse, or sometimes, one who has never engaged in any sexual activity at all.
- (informal) One who has never used or experienced a specified thing.
- I've never eaten tofu before – you could say I'm a tofu virgin.
- Any of several species of gossamer-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.
- A female insect producing eggs from which young are hatched, though there has been no fecundation by a male; a parthenogenetic insect.
- (person who has never had sexual intercourse) maiden (dated; used of a woman only), unicorn bait (slang), virgo intacta (medical term; used of a woman only), vestal
- French: vierge, (of a man; informal or dated) puceau, pucelle (woman; of a woman; informal or dated)
- German: Jungfrau
- Italian: vergine (referring to a woman), vergine (referring to a man)
- Portuguese: virgem
- Russian: де́вственник
- Spanish: virgen, doncel, doncella, señorita (euphemistic)
virgin
- (usually, not comparable) In a state of virginity; chaste, not having had sexual intercourse.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 7”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:
- Innocence and virgin Modestie […] / That would be woo’d, and not unsought be won
- 1913, DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, page 294:
- He was now about twenty-three years old, and, though still virgin, the sex instinct that Miriam had over refined for so long now grew particularly strong.
- 1988, Hubert Monteilhet, Neropolis:
- From their embraces was born the handsome Actaeon, a naive boy, who had less excuse than other men, given that he was her son, for believing her to be a virgin. It's true that he was even more virgin than his mother.
- 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 314:
- Helvidius […] took the plain meaning of scripture to say that Jesus patently had brothers and sisters, so therefore his mother, Mary, had enjoyed a normal family life rather than remaining perpetually virgin.
- Of a physical object, untouched.
- c1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1.
- The white cold virgin snow upon my heart / Abates the ardour of my liver.
- 1932, Dorothy L Sayers, Have his Carcase, Chapter 1.
- There is something about virgin sand which arouses all the worst instincts of the detective-story writer. One feels an irresisitible impulse to go and make footprints all over it.
- c1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1.
- Not yet cultivated, explored, or exploited by humans or humans of certain civilizations.
- virgin prairie, a virgin ecosystem, virgin forest
- virgin clay, i.e. clay that has never been fired
- The virgin lands of the Americas were awaiting the Europeans.
- 1650, Edward Williams, Virginia: More Especially the South Part Thereof:
- The same bounty of Summer, the same milde remission of Winter, with a more virgin and unexhausted soyle being materiall arguments to shew that modesty and truth receive no diminution by the comparison.
- Of olive oil, obtained by mechanical means, so that the oil is not altered.
- 2013, Cheryl Forberg, Cooking with Quinoa For Dummies, page 62:
- Wondering how some oil is somehow more virgin than regular virgin olive oil can be a real head-scratcher.
- 2013, Cheryl Forberg, Cooking with Quinoa For Dummies, page 62:
- (usually, not comparable) Of mixed drinks, not containing alcohol.
- a virgin daiquiri
- French: vierge
- German: jungfräulich
- Portuguese: virgem, virginal
- Spanish: virgen, virginal, casto, casta
Virgin
Proper noun
- (Christianity) Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
- The constellation and star sign Virgo.
- (rare) Surname
- A town in Washington County, Utah.
- A conglomeration of various businesses founded by Richard Branson.
- (mother of Jesus) Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Mary
- French: la Vierge
- German: die Jungfrau
- Italian: la Vergine
- Russian: Де́ва
- Spanish: la Virgen
- French: la Vierge
- German: die Jungfrau
- Italian: la Vergine
- Russian: Де́ва
virgin (plural virgins)
- (Christianity, art) A representation (picture, statue etc.) of Virgin Mary.
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