maiden

noun

1. a girl or young unmarried woman; maid.
2. a horse that has never won a race.
3. a race open only to maiden horses.
4. an instrument resembling the guillotine, formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals.
5. Cricket. maiden over.

adjective

6. of, relating to, or befitting a girl or unmarried woman.
7. (of a woman) unmarried: my maiden aunt.
8. made, tried, appearing, etc., for the first time: a maiden flight.
9. virgin.
10. (of a horse) never having won a race or a prize.
11. (of a prize or a race) offered for or open only to maiden horses.
12. untried, as a knight, soldier, or weapon.

noun

1. archaic, or literary
   1. a young unmarried girl, esp when a virgin
   2. (as modifier)a maiden blush
2. horse racing
   1. a horse that has never won a race
   2. (as modifier)a maiden race
3. cricket See maiden over
4. Also called: clothes maiden Northern English dialect a frame on which clothes are hung to dry; clothes horse
5. (modifier) of or relating to an older unmarried womana maiden aunt
6. (modifier) of or involving an initial experience or attempta maiden voyage; maiden speech
7. (modifier) (of a person or thing) untried; unused
8. (modifier) (of a place) never trodden, penetrated, or captured

n.Old English mægden, mæden “maiden, virgin, girl; maid, servant,” diminutive of mægð, mægeð “virgin, girl; woman, wife,” from Proto-Germanic *magadinom “young womanhood, sexually inexperienced female” (cf. Old Saxon magath, Old Frisian maged, Old High German magad “virgin, maid,” German Magd “maid, maidservant,” German Mädchen “girl, maid,” from Mägdchen “little maid”), fem. variant of PIE root *maghu- “youngster of either sex, unmarried person” (cf. Old English magu “child, son, male descendant,” Avestan magava- “unmarried,” Old Irish maug “slave”). adj.“virgin, unmarried,” c.1300, from maiden (n.). The figurative sense of “new fresh, first” (cf. maiden voyage) is first recorded 1550s. Maiden name is from 1680s.