MAIDEN NAME • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • 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

... consider it more self-respecting to beg on the streets than from a religious corporation), waits her turn, until a dizzy blonde clerk beckons condescendingly. She advances to the rail, and gives her name, race, color, previous condition of servitude, her mother's great grandmother's maiden name, and a lot of other important charitable things. She is then referred to room six hundred and ninety. There she gives more of her autobiography. From this room she is sent to the inspection department, ...

— Traffic in Souls - A Novel of Crime and Its Cure • Eustace Hale Ball

... Revolution; but Count Paul de Remusat, who has been consulted on the subject, has kindly pointed out that the lady of whom Scott speaks must have been the widow of the Chevalier de Boufflers-Remencourt, known by his poems and stories. Her maiden name was de Jean de Manville, and her first husband was a Comte de Sabran. She died in 1827.—See Correspondance inedite de la Comtesse de Sabran, Paris, ...

— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott

... mother's birth had been low, or his mother's reputation was damaged by some hidden flaw with which Mrs. Catherick and Sir Percival were both privately acquainted? I could only put the first explanation to the test by looking at the register of her marriage, and so ascertaining her maiden name and her parentage as a ...

— The Woman in White • Wilkie Collins

... Bilderdijk who translated Roderick, was, according to Southey, the second wife of her husband. How did JANUS DOUSA learn that her maiden name was Schweickhardt? ...

— Notes & Queries, No. 53. Saturday, November 2, 1850 • Various

... presented, that Mr. Curtis was acting under instructions, and I saw the reporters prick up their ears.' Turning to Mrs. Stanton, he asked, 'You are so tenacious about your own name, why did you not inscribe my wife's maiden name, Mary Cheney Greeley, on her petition?' 'Because,' she replied, 'I wanted all the world to know that it was the wife of Horace Greeley who protested against her husband's report.' 'Well,' said he, 'I understand the animus ...

— The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) • Ida Husted Harper

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