MAIDEN NAME • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Maiden name

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/mˈeɪdən neɪm/ Listen

adjective

Maiden adj.

1.

Of or pertaining to a maiden, or to maidens; suitable to, or characteristic of, a virgin; as, maiden innocence. "Amid the maiden throng." "Have you no modesty, no maiden shame?"

2.

Never having been married; not having had sexual intercourse; virgin; said usually of the woman, but sometimes of the man; as, a maiden aunt. "A surprising old maiden lady."

3.

Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused. "Maiden flowers." "Full bravely hast thou fleshed Thy maiden sword."

4.

Used of a fortress, signifying that it has never been captured, or violated.

Maiden assize (Eng. Law), an assize which there is no criminal prosecution; an assize which is unpolluted with blood. It was usual, at such an assize, for the sheriff to present the judge with a pair of white gloves.

Maiden name, the surname of a woman before her marriage.

Maiden pink. (Bot.) See under Pink.

Maiden plum (Bot.), a West Indian tree (Comocladia integrifolia) with purplish drupes. The sap of the tree is glutinous, and gives a persistent black stain.

Maiden speech, the first speech made by a person, esp. by a new member in a public body.

Maiden tower, the tower most capable of resisting an enemy.

maiden voyage the first regular service voyage of a ship.

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Etymology of 'Maiden name'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Maiden name" Quotes from Famous Books

... never gave one of her children any definite information concerning her antecedents. She came from Weissenfels, and admitted that her parents had been bakers [FOOTNOTE: According to more recent information—mill owners] there. Even in regard to her maiden name she always spoke with some embarrassment, and intimated that it was 'Perthes,' though, as we afterwards ascertained, it was in reality 'Bertz.' Strange to say, she had been placed in a high-class boarding-school in Leipzig, where she had enjoyed the advantage of the care and interest ...

— My Life, Volume I • Richard Wagner

... had pieced together a few sketchy fragments of Miss Terroll's biography, just enough to make the wish for fuller knowledge tantalizing. That was her maiden name, also used as a stage name, but she had been married when just out of Wellesley. She spoke little of that episode. Her girlhood was a pleasanter theme and its environment had been that of his own world—full of the gaiety and sunshine that ...

— Destiny • Charles Neville Buck

... young ladies, to whom she was admitted as a sort of humble companion, had formed the opinion it might be an advantage to the girl to educate her for a governess; little conceiving, in her own situation, that she was preparing a course of life for Martha Ray, for such was Mrs. Dutton's maiden name, that was perhaps the least enviable of all the careers that a virtuous and intelligent female can run. This was, as education and governesses were appreciated a century ago; the world, with all its faults and sophisms, ...

— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper

... was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1823. Her maiden name was Mary Smith Kelsey. Her mother was a free colored woman, very light, and her father a white man—an Englishman of rank and culture. She was a very lovely child in person and manners, and as she grew up, developed traits of character which ...

— Mary S. Peake - The Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe • Lewis C. Lockwood

... with her social position and its requirements. After she is married, she will find her table-cloths and napkins, sheets, and pillow slips and towels a much greater source of satisfaction than a lot of passe gowns and wraps. Her silver and linen are marked with the initials of her maiden name. These initials are ...

— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

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