Dictionary entry

Virgin

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Vir″gin (?), n. [L. virgo, -inis: cf. OF. virgine, virgene, virge, vierge, F. vierge.] 1. A woman who has had no carnal knowledge of man; a maid.

2. A person of the male sex who has not known sexual indulgence. Wyclif.

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. Rev. xiv. 4.

He his flesh hath overcome;

He was a virgin, as he said. Gower.

3. (Astron.) See Virgo.

4. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of gossamer-winged butterflies of the family Lycænidæ.

5. (Zoöl.) A female insect producing eggs from which young are hatched, though there has been no fecundation by a male; a parthenogenetic insect.

The Virgin, orThe Blessed Virgin, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord. — Virgin's bower(Bot.), a name given to several climbing plants of the genus Clematis, as C. Vitalba of Europe, and C. Virginiana of North America.