Maianthemum 
Maianthemum (ma-yan'the-mum), n. [NL. 
(Wiggers, 1780), < Gr. fiala, mother, + avOtfiov, 
a flower.] A genus of liliaceous plants of the 
tribe Polygonateie, characterized by having the 
flowers in a termi- 
nal raceme, 2-merous, 
and without a peri- 
anth-tube, the seg- 
ments spreading. They 
are low herbs, with slen- 
der creeping rootstocks, 
two (rarely three) heart- 
shaped leaves, and small 
white flowers. There is 
but a single species, M. 
Canadense, one of the 
plants known && false Solo- 
mon's-seal, found in moist 
woods throughout the 
temperate regions of the 
northern hemisphere. 
maid (mad), n. [<ME. 
maide, mayde, meide, 
partly a shortened 
form of maiden (see 
maiden), partly from 
earlier ME. magth, < 
AS. mcegeth, maigth (= 
Od ,,,/,,//, /Y/7//77i Flowering Plant of MalaHthtmum 
Ub. magam, magaan, Cana >u t . , flow er . , fni its. 
magad = OFries. me- 
flith, megeth, maged = D. meid, maagd = MLG. 
maget, LG. magd = OHG. magad, macad, MHG. 
maget, meit, G. magd, maid = Goth, magaths), 
a maid, virgin, a fern, form with formative -th, 
equiv. to mceg, maige, E. may 3 , maid, fern, cor- 
responding to magu, a son, mceg, a kinsman, E. 
may" 2 : see may 2 , may 3 .] 1. A young unmar- 
ried woman ; a girl ; specifically, a girl of mar- 
riageable age, but applied, usually with little or 
some other qualifying term, to a female child of 
any age above infancy: as, a maid, or a little 
maid, of ten summers. 
And bytwyne Citie and the seyd Chirche ys the flod flo- 
ridus, where the f ayer mayd shuld a ben brent. 
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel], p. 47. 
But communed only with the lUtte maid, 
Who pleased her with a babbling heedlessness 
Which often lured her from herself. 
Tennyson, Guinevere. 
2. A woman, especially a young woman, who 
has preserved her virginity; a virgin. 
Would you not swear, 
All you that see her, that she were a maid, 
By these exterior shows? But she is none. 
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 40. 
3f. A man who has always remained continent. 
I wot wel the Apostel was a mayde. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 79. 
He was clene mayde imartred with the same maydenes. 
Trevisa, tr. of Higden's Polychronicon, v. 69. 
4. A female servant or attendant charged with 
domestic duties : usually with a specific desig- 
nation, as a housemaid, chambermaid, nurse- 
maid, a maid of all work, etc. See the com- 
pounds, and phrases below. 
And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her 
maid to fetch it. Ex. ii. 5. 
She's called upon her maids by seven. 
To mak his bed baith sait and even. 
Bothwett (Child's Ballads, I. 159). 
She had no maids to stand 
Gold-clothed on either hand. 
A. C. Swinburne, Madonna Mia. 
6. One of various fishes. 
eral species of skate. 
When fishy Stalls with double Store are laid : 
The golden belly'd Carp, the broad-flnn'd Maid. 
Gay, Trivia, Ii. 414. 
(6) The thornback ray. Also called maiden and maiden- 
skate, (c) The twait-shad. Cuckoo's maid, (a) The 
red -backed shrike, Lanim cotturio. (b) The wryneck, 
lynx torqwtta. Lady's maid, a female servant em- 
ployed to attend to the personal wants of a woman. 
Maid of all work, a female servant who does work of 
every kind; a domestic who performs general house- 
work. Maid of honor, (a) A woman of good birth 
having membership in a royal household as an atten- 
dant on a princess or the queen. While technically in 
the latter's service, actual attendance is either divided as 
to period among the several maids of honor, or is limited 
to appearance at state occasions and court ceremonies. 
In England eight maids of honor are now regularly chosen, 
but more are often nominated. They are usually if not 
always daughters or granddaughters of peers, and when 
possessing no other title are styled honorable, (b) A sort 
of cheesecake. [Said to be made according to a recipe 
originally given by a maid of honor of Queen Elizabeth.) 
He [the baker] has brought down a girl from London, 
who can make short bread and maids of honor. 
R. D. Blackmore, Kit and Kitty, vii. 
Old maid, (a) A woman who remains unmarried beyond 
the usual or average age for marriage. [Colloq.] (6) A 
game of cards played by any number of persons with a 
pack of fifty-one cards, one of the queens being thrown 
out ; all cards that match are discarded, and that player in 
whose hand the odd queen is finally left is said to be caught, 
(a) The female of sev- 
3580 
and doomed to be an old maid (or bachelor), (c) The 
lapwing : from the fancy that old maids are changed into 
these uneasy birds after death. [Local, Eng.] (d) The 
common clam, Mya arenaria. [South of England.] The 
Heliconian maids. See Heliconian. 
maidan (mi'dan), . [Pers.] In Persia and 
India, a level open green or esplanade in or 
adjoining a town, serving for a parade-ground 
or for amusements of all sorts, but especially 
for military exercises, horsemanship, and horse- 
races. Sometimes spelled meidan. 
maid-Child (mad'child), n. A female child; a 
girl. [Rare.] 
A maid-child call'd Marina. Shak., Pericles, v. 8. 6. 
maiden (ma'dn), n. and a. [< ME. maiden, 
mayden, meiden, madden, < AS. maigden, mceden 
(= OHG. magatin, mageti, MHG. magetin, ma- 
gedin, megetin, megedin, meitin), a maiden, with 
fern, formative -en (see -e 4 ), < mwgetli, a maid : 
see maid."} I. n. 1. Amaid, in any sense of that 
word. See maid. 
Of bodi was he mayden clene. Havelok, L 990. 
This synne Cometh ofte to hem that been maydenei, and 
eek to hem that been corrupt. Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
O 111 go tak the bride's maidens, 
And well go tak a dance. 
Fair Janet (Child's Ballads, II. 91). 
2. An animal or a thing that is young, new, 
inexperienced, untried, or untaken. Specifically 
(a) In racing, a horse that has never won a race or a 
stake. (6) A fortress that has never been taken, (c) In 
cricket, an over in which no 
runs are made. See over. 
3. The last handful of 
corn cut down by the 
reapers on a farm. It 
is dressed up with rib- 
bons. [Scotch.] 4. A 
wisp of straw put into 
a hoop of iron, used by 
a blacksmith in water- 
ing his fire. Jamieson, 
[Scotch.] 5. An in- 
strumentof capital pun- 
ishment formerly used. 
It consisted of a loaded blade 
Maiden, Museum of the Society or ax which moved ingrooves 
of Antiquaries, Edinburgh. in a frame about ten feet 
high, '['fir ax was raised 
to the top of the frame and then let fall, severing the 
victim's head from his body. 
6. A mallet for beating linen, used in washing. 
II. a. 1. Being a maid; belonging to the 
class of maids or virgins. 
His maiden sister and his orphan niece, whom he ... 
used to boast of as the only women he had ever seen who 
were well broken in and bitted to obedience. 
Scott, Antiquary, Ii. 
Nor was there one of all the nymphs that roved 
O'er Msenalus, amid the maiden throng 
More favour'd once. 
Addison, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., ii. 513. 
2. Of or pertaining to a maid or to maids : as, 
maiden charms. 
Now, by my maiden honour, yet as pure 
As the unsullied lily, I protest. 
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 351. 
3. Like a maid in any respect; virginal; chaste. 
Indeed I knew 
Of no more subtle master under heaven 
Than is the maiden passion for a maid, 
Not only to keep down the base in man, 
But teach high thought Tennyson, Guinevere. 
4. Young; fresh; new; hitherto untried or 
unused; unsullied; unstained. 
Full bravely hast thou flesh'd 
Thy maiden sword. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 133. 
A due proportion of maiden i. e. pure chlorine, and 
' ' spent " gas gas mixed with steam should be used. 
Spans' Eneyc. Manuf., I. 460. 
Maiden assize, an assize of a court for the trial of crim- 
inals in Great Britain at which there are no criminal 
cases to be tried. In the eighteenth century and previ- 
ously the name was given to any assize at which no person 
was condemned to die. It is usual at such assizes to pre- 
sent the judge with a pair of white gloves. Maiden hat- 
tie, a first contest 
A maiden battle, then? Shak., T. and C., iv. 5. 87. 
Maiden duck. See ducW. Maiden fortress, a fortress 
that has never been captured. Maiden hand*, a hand 
as yet unstained with blood. 
This hand of mine 
Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand, 
Not painted with the crimson spots of blood. 
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 252. 
Maiden name, the family name of a married woman be- 
fore her marriage; the surname of a maiden. Maiden 
over, in cricket, an over in which no runs are made. See 
over. Maiden speech, one's first speech; especially, 
the first speech of a new member in a public body, as the 
House of Commons. Maiden Stakes, in horse-racing, 
the money contended for in a race between young horses 
that have never run before. Maiden strewmentst, 
flowers and evergreens strewed in the path of a young 
couple on their way to church to be married, or on the 
The 
Leaf of Maidenhair- tree 
(Gingko biloba). 
maiden-meek 
way by which the corpse of an unmarried person of 
either sex was carried to the grave. 
Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants, 
Her maiden stretements, and the bringing home 
Of bell and burial. Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 26. 
maident (ma'dn), v. i. [< maiden, .] To act or 
speak in a maidenly manner; behave modestly 
or demurely. [Bare.] 
Forbad I mayden'd it, as many use, 
Loath for to grant, but leather to refuse. 
Bp. Hall, Satires, III. iii. 5. 
maidenhair (ma'dn-har), n. 1. A fern of the 
genus Adiantum, particularly A. Capillus -Vene- 
ris, a native of North and South America, 
Europe, Asia, Africa, China, and Japan, and 
A. pedatum, a native of North America from 
Canada southward, Hindustan, Japan, and 
Manchuria. They grow in moist rocky places, and 
are so called from the fine, hair-like stalks, or from the 
fine black tibrous roots. Asplenium Trichomanes is the 
black or English maidenhair. 
2. A stuff in use for garments in the fourteenth 
century. Fairholt Golden maidenhair, a moss, 
Polytrichum commune, sometimes made into brushes and 
mats. 
maidenhair-grass, n. See Briza. 
maidenhair-tree (ma'dn-har-tre), n. 
gingko (which see), 
so called from the 
resemblance of its 
leaves to the pin- 
nules of the maiden- 
hair fern. Although 
but one species, Gingko 
biloba, now exists, It was 
once a very abundant 
form, and is traceable to 
the Jurassic and even 
further back, a large 
number of fossil species 
being known, usually 
with the leaves much 
more lobed than in the 
living species, becom- 
ing digitate and passing 
insensibly into still more 
archaic types, Baiera, 
Jeanpaulia, Trichopitys, 
etc. 
maidenhead (ma'dn-hed), n. [<ME. mayden- 
hede, meidenlied, var. of maidenhood.] 1. Vir- 
ginity; maidenhood. 
By my troth and maidenhead, 
I would not be a queen. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 3. 23. 
2f. Newness; freshness; incipiency; also, the 
first of a thing. 
The maidenhead of our affairs. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 59. 
Then came home to my fire the maidenhead of second 
half bushel [of coals]. Swift. 
3. The hymen or vaginal membrane, regarded 
as the physical proof of virginity. 4f. The first 
using of anything. 
A chaine of golde that cost him Ivij pound and odde 
money, wherof because he would have the maydenhead 
or first wearing himselfe, he presently put it on in the 
Goldsmith's shop. Greene, Conny Catching, 3d Part (1592). 
Maidenhead spoon, a spoon having a small figure of the 
Virgin forming the end or "head" of the handle. S. K. 
Handbook College and Corporation Plate, p. 69. 
maidenhood (ma'dn-hud), n. [< ME. mayden- 
hodc; <maiden + -hood.] 1. The stateof being 
a maid or maiden ; the state of an unmarried 
female; virginity. 
And, for the modest love of maidenhood 
Bids me not sojourn with these armed men, 
Oh, whither shall I fly? Fairfax, tr. of Tasso. 
To her, perpetual maidenhood, 
And unto me no second friend. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, vi. 
2. Freshness ; newness. [Rare.] 
The Ireful bastard Orleans that drew blood 
From thee, my boy, and had the maidenhood 
Of thy first fight I soon encountered. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 6. 17. 
maiden-like (ma'dn-lik), . Like a maid ; mod- 
est. 
maidenliness (ma'dn-li-nes), . The quality 
of being maidenly ; behavior that becomes a 
maid; modesty; gentleness, 
maidenly (ma'dn-li), a. [< maiden + -ly 1 .'] 
Like a maid; gentle; modest; reserved. 
Lyke to Aryna, maydenly of porte. 
Skelton, Garland of Laurel, 1. 866. 
What a maidenly man-at-arms are you become ! 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 2. 82. 
maidenly (ma'dn-li), adv. [< maiden + -fy 2 .] 
In a maiden-like manner; modestly; gently. 
[Rare.] 
maiden-meek (m&'dn-mek), . Meek as be- 
comes or is natural to a maiden. 
I was courteous, every phrase well oil'd 
As man's could be ; yet, maiden-meek, I pray'il 
Concealment. Tennyson, Princess, iii. 
