virginal
/ˈvəːdʒɪn(ə)l
/adjective
Being, relating to, or appropriate for a virgin: virginal shyness...
- On this occasion relays of patriotic maidens in virginal white paraded reverently before a temple of philosophy erected where the high altar had stood.
- Working in a largely male-dominated office, the arrival of any new female face, let alone a young, innocent and possibly virginal one, is greeted with much excitement.
- Let's go back to the, like, virginal innocence thing, because that can be cool too.
noun (usually virginals)
An early spinet with the strings parallel to the keyboard, typically rectangular, and popular in 16th and 17th century houses.Some Flemish ‘mother and child’ virginals were made effectively double-manual by having a small 4 virginals tucked away in a drawer beside the keyboard....
- The pieces in Musicks Hand-maide are transcriptions of such music, played here on the virginals.
- It's a chest of whistles, it's a set of virginals, it's just about anything you want to make of it.
Derivatives
virginalist
- This helps to explain the change in repertory from the complicated, technically demanding pieces of the virginalists to the simpler, more straightforward works found in many of the later sources.
- Melody, harmony, and rhythm became as important to music as plainsong and counterpoint, and the arts of ornamentation and virtuoso extemporization thrived among the virginalists, and among the lute and consort players.
- In his day he was chiefly famous as an organist and virginalist, being described by one listener as ‘the best finger of that age’.
virginally
- If some parents choose to pretend to their children that they were virginally conceived, that is, of course, their societally complicit prerogative.
- Perseus was not really virginally conceived at all, but was the result of sexual intercourse between the lecherous god Zeus and Danaë. Zeus had previously turned himself into a shower of gold to reach the imprisoned damsel.
- Their sound is virginally pure yet sexy, girlish and yet offering maternal comfort.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin virginalis, from virgo 'young woman'. The musical instrument is perhaps so called because it was usually played by young women.