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virginal

 
Dictionary: vir·gin·al1   (vûr'jə-nəl) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Relating to, characteristic of, or befitting a virgin; chaste.
  2. Remaining in a state of virginity.
  3. Untouched or unsullied; fresh.
  4. Zoology. Virgin.
virginally vir'gin·al·ly adv.

vir·gin·al2 (vûr'jə-nəl) pronunciation
n.
A small, legless rectangular harpsichord popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. Often used in the plural. Also called pair of virginals.

[From VIRGIN (perhaps from its being associated with female performers).]


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English virginal (with jack rail removed) made by Robert Hatley, London, 1664; in the …
(click to enlarge)
English virginal (with jack rail removed) made by Robert Hatley, London, 1664; in the … (credit: From the Benton-Fletcher Collection at the National Trust Property, Fenton House, Hampstead, London)
Small rectangular harpsichord with a single set of strings and a single manual. The derivation of its name is uncertain. The virginal's strings run parallel to the keyboard, which occupies only a portion of the longer side. Combination virginals include a smaller portable virginal that can be placed on top of the larger keyboard to create a two-manual instrument. The virginal was particularly popular in 16th – 17th-century England, where much music was written for it by William Byrd, Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, and others.

For more information on virginal, visit Britannica.com.

Thesaurus: virginal
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adjective

  1. Morally beyond reproach, especially in sexual conduct: chaste, decent, modest, nice, pure, virgin, virtuous. See good/bad, restraint/unrestraint, sex/asexual.
  2. Free from evil and corruption: angelic, angelical, clean, innocent, lily-white, pure, sinless, unblemished, uncorrupted, undefiled, unstained, unsullied, untainted. Idioms: pure as the driven snow. See clean/dirty, right/wrong, sex/asexual.

Music Encyclopedia: Virginal
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A small type of harpsichord, with one set of strings and jacks and one keyboard. The term was used in England until well into the 17th century to denote any quilled keyboard instrument. There is however an accepted specific definition: a virginal is an instrument whose strings run parallel to the keyboard, as opposed to diagonally (as in the spinet) or directly away from the player (as in the harpsichord). The term was first used c1460 in a treatise describing it as ‘having the shape of a clavichord and metal strings making the sound of a harpsichord’. This rectangular form was the earliest of many. Italian virginals showed a particularly wide variety of harp-shaped or polygonal designs with the keyboard protruding from the main body of the instrument. Flemish models had a keyboard built into the instrument, either centred in one of the long sides or to the left (in which case the virginal was termed a ‘spinett’) or to the right (called a ‘Muselar ’). English virginals followed the Flemish design. The double virginal, in which two keyboards are superimposed and played separately or coupled, is also a Flemish development. (For illustration, seeKeyboard Instruments.)



WordNet: pair of virginals
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women) in the 16th and 17th centuries
  Synonym: virginal


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more