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Meaning of VIRGINAL

Pronunciation:  'vurjunl

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [n]  a legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women) in the 16th and 17th centuries
  2. [adj]  in a state of sexual virginity; "pure and vestal modesty"; "a spinster or virgin lady"; "men have decreed that their women must be pure and virginal"
  3. [adj]  untouched or undefiled; "nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage"- L.P.Smith
  4. [adj]  characteristic of a virgin or virginity; "virginal white dresses"
 
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 Synonyms: chaste, pair of virginals, pure, vestal, virgin, virtuous
 
 See Also: cembalo, harpsichord

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. \Vir"gin*al\, a. [L. virginalis: cf. F. virginal.]
    Of or pertaining to a virgin; becoming a virgin; maidenly.
    ``Chastity and honor virginal.'' --Spenser.
    {Virginal generation} (Biol.), parthenogenesis.
    {Virginal membrane} (Anat.), the hymen.
    
  2. \Vir"gin*al\, n. [Cf. F. virginale; -- probably so
    called from being used by young girls, or virgins.] (Mus.)
    An instrument somewhat resembling the spinet, but having a
    rectangular form, like the small piano. It had strings and
    keys, but only one wire to a note. The instrument was used in
    the sixteenth century, but is now wholly obsolete. It was
    sometimes called a pair of virginals.
    
  3. \Vir"gin*al\, v. i.
    To play with the fingers, as if on a virginal; to tap or pat.
    [Obs.] ``Still virginaling upon his palm!'' --Shak.
    
 
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