Hypertext Webster Gateway: "virginal"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Virginal \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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Virginal \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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Virginal \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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
virginal
adj 1: characteristic of a virgin or virginity; "virginal white
dresses"
2: untouched or undefiled; "nor is there anything more virginal
than the shimmer of young foliage"- L.P.Smith
3: 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" [syn: {pure}, {vestal}, {virgin},
{virtuous}]
n : a legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women)
in the 16th and 17th centuries [syn: {pair of virginals}]
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