On Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:47:06 +0000, nmm1 wrote:

In article ,
Emery Davis wrote:
On Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:18:45 +0000, Roger Tonkin wrote:

1: an unmarried girl or woman : maid 2: a former Scottish beheading
device resembling the guillotine 3: a horse that has never won a race

I'm glad I don't have a maiden aunt like no 2:

I always thought that was called a Scottish Maiden.

The OED doesn't seem to have that use. However, the first few meanings
as they apply to human beings a

A girl; a young (unmarried) woman A virgin A man without experience
of sexual intercourse An unmarried woman, a spinster A maidservant,
a female attendant


My 1962 Britannica International does though:

1 An unmarried woman, especially if young; a maid; virgin. 2 Something
untried or unused, as a race horse that has never won an event. 3 A rude
kind of beheading machine used in Scotland in the 16th and 17th
centuries. [...]

Scottish Maiden doesn't get a listing though, so I for one stand
corrected.

I did however have a rude maiden aunt, now departed, bless her.



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy