Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Maidenhood.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Maidenhood; virginity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Maidenhood.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Maidenhood; virginity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the childhood of a girl

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From maid +‎ -hood. Compare maidenhood.

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Examples

  • Certes, it was not my brother who won thy maidhood.

    The Nibelungenlied 2007

  • It was clear enough that Alan didn't like her either, but because she was Candi's friend he'd felt obligated to be nice to her, nice to poor Bea, who was heading toward old-maidhood, or whatever they called it now-she'd seen it in his stupid eyes.

    The Cardinal of the Kremlin Clancy, Tom, 1947- 1988

  • Certes, it was not my brother who won thy maidhood.

    The Nibelungenlied Daniel Bussier Shumway

  • But they were mostly letters from cranks ... or from girls very, very young and sentimental, or on the verge of old-maidhood, who were casting about for some escape from the narrow daily life that environed them ....

    Tramping on Life Kemp, Harry, 1883-1960 1922

  • But they were mostly letters from cranks ... or from girls very, very young and sentimental, or on the verge of old-maidhood, who were casting about for some escape from the narrow daily life that environed them ....

    Tramping on Life An Autobiographical Narrative Harry Kemp 1921

  • "I hate your manhood, send it after the maidhood; it fits me just as badly."

    Gulliver of Mars 1905

  • "I hate your manhood, send it after the maidhood; it fits me just as badly."

    Gulliver of Mars Edwin Lester Linden Arnold 1896

  • In her powerful novel _Aus guter Familie_, Gabrielle Reuter describes the life of a German girl whose parents cannot give her a dowry, and who is doomed in consequence to old maidhood and to all the disappointments, restrictions, and humiliations of unsought women.

    Home Life in Germany Alfred Sidgwick 1894

  • All through the kaleidoscopic transformation-scenes of the "season", through which she moved magnificently, old-maidhood notwithstanding, she was unconsciously seeking him.

    Sisters Ada Cambridge 1885

  • I am a woman, and as I do not think that I shall ever marry, I refuse to be chaperoned all the way to old-maidhood.

    Taquisara 1881

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