virgin

virgin [vʉr′jən]

n.

[ME < OFr virgine < L virgo (gen. virginis), maiden: ? akin to virga, slender branch, twig, shoot]

1.

a) a woman, esp. a young woman, who has never had sexual intercourse

b) an unmarried girl or woman

2. a man, esp. a youth, who has never had sexual intercourse

3. Informal a person who is entirely new to or inexperienced in a specified thing [a stock market virgin]

4. Zool.

a) a female animal that has not copulated

b) a female insect that lays eggs without impregnation by the male

adj.

1. being a virgin

2. composed of virgins

3. characteristic of or proper to a virgin; chaste; modest

4. like or suggesting a virgin because untouched, unmarked, pure, clean, etc. [virgin snow]

5. up to this time unused, unexplored, unworked, undiscovered, etc. [a virgin forest]

6. occurring uncombined in its native form [virgin silver]

7. being the first; initial [a virgin effort]

8.

a) obtained from the first pressing, without the use of heat: said of an oil, esp. olive oil

b) obtained directly from an ore or raw material: said esp. of a metal

9. made without alcohol: said of a drink otherwise prepared like a cocktail [a virgin piña colada]

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the Virgin

1. Mary, the mother of Jesus

2. Virgo, the constellation and sixth sign of the zodiac