virgin

Word family

vir·gin1 /ˈvɜːdʒɪn $ ˈvɜːr-/ noun [countableC]

1. SYsomeone who has never had sex 处女；童男

2. the Virgin Mary (also the (Blessed) Virgin) Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ 圣母马利亚，童贞女马利亚〔耶稣之母〕

Examples from the Corpus

the Virgin Mary• Lady Richelda is believed to have been told by the Virgin Mary to build a replica of her house in Nazareth.• In the winter of 1531, Juan Diego was walking on a hillside where he was visited by the Virgin Mary.• He claimed he had not heard of the Virgin Mary either.• A portrait of the Virgin Mary looms behind him like a heavenly guardian.• Then she saw Sophia go over to the statue of the Virgin Mary.• One of them, Joseph Kibweteere, announced that the Virgin Mary had appeared before him in a vision.• Pentecostals do not say prayers to the Virgin Mary.

3 someone who has never done a particular activity before 从未做过某事的人

a snowboarding virgin

从未玩过单板滑雪的人

Examples from the Corpus

virgin• Women in some countries are expected to keep their virginity until marriage - the same rule doesn't apply to men.• When Jane Eyre finally married Mr Rochester she was still, after all, a virgin.• Some men will not marry a woman who is no longer a virgin.• Sentences for rape are eased if the victim is not a virgin.• The demeanour of a virgin can be converted into that of a coquette.• She must remain a virgin until marriage and must never take any lovers other than her husband.• At 27 he was still a virgin and very shy about it.• The discovery that Judy was a virgin, and intended to remain so for some time longer, rattled me considerably.• This is the first model computer virgins can operate as soon as it lands on their desks.• Here Melangell founded a community of virgins and lived a further thirty seven years in the valley.• After offering a prayer, the virgin expired.• She led me to the double rainbow where virgins climb to heaven and told me to climb.

virgin2 adjectiveadj [only before noun]

1. virgin land/forest/soil/snow etc DNNATURALland etc that is still in its natural state and has not been used or changed by people 处女地/原始森林/未开垦地/初雪等

Examples from the Corpus

virgin land/forest/soil/snow etc• Another road runs south, through the oilfields, and is constantly being extended into virgin forest.• Cloud shadows scudded across immeasurable stands of virgin forests.• In low range, it walks with authority across a field covered by a couple of feet of packed virgin snow.• Within an hour, Bucharest is buried under a blanket of virgin snow.• The trees here were all larger and growing much more vigorously than in the virgin forest above.• After an initial few hundred feet across virgin land the railway will join the old trackbed of the long-disused Newbury Railway.• Some scientists believe that it can take up to a thousand years for virgin forest to be truly established.• In response to the beard-shaving incident the Dwarfs chopped down entire virgin forests to spite the Elves.

2 SYwithout sexual experience 童贞的

a virgin bride

贞洁的新娘

3. virgin territory something new that you are experiencing for the first time 新领域，处女地〔指初次尝试的新事物〕

Examples from the Corpus

virgin territory• As far as Labour is concerned, this is virgin territory.• The internet is no longer virgin territory.• Working on what in effect was virgin territory for customs officers our crews produced fantastic results in the earlier days.• Helena some years earlier to map the stars of the southern hemisphere-virtually virgin territory on the landscape of the night.• I mean, this was still virgin territory, there were no tube lines running to this part of the frontier.• Of course, our rummage crews were working on more or less virgin territory, where no customs rummage crew had been before.

4. (extra) virgin olive oil the highest quality of olive oil, made from the first pressing of the olives (特级)初榨橄榄油

Examples from the Corpus

(extra) virgin olive oil• Azalea Concealed within this attractive storage jar is a litre of the finest extra virgin olive oil from Chianti.• Vegetarians therefore may include a little oil in their cooking, and extra virgin olive oil is the best choice.• We also bought some of the extra virgin olive oil, stored in huge terracotta jars with wooden lids.

Examples from the Corpus

virgin• He was eager to try out his jokes on a virgin audience.• a virgin bride• No more virgin coastal cliff will be sprinkled with bungalows.• General Booth's Salvationist doctrine was a notable example, recommending mass emigration from the city slums to virgin colonial territories.• Here we find immense virgin forests, similar to those of the Amazon and Indonesia.• a virgin piña colada• In front of them were 500 miles of virgin plains almost uninhabited by white people.• Like ours, it lies ahead of her like a wilderness just before the first explorer sets foot on the virgin sand.• It was in virgin wilderness up north where septic tanks are forbidden.

Virginn trademark

nthe name of several British companies started by Richard branson, including Virgin Atlantic, an airline, Virgin Rail, a railway company, and Virgin Money, which provides financial services. Some of the companies Branson started, such as Virgin Records, are no longer owned by him.

Origin virgin1

(1100-1200) Old French virgine, from Latin virgo “young woman, virgin”