Virgin

From virgin, q.v. The sense of Mary, mother of Jesus, comes from the Christian belief in Jesus's virgin birth and Mary's freedom from sin. The river sense derives from the name of Thomas Virgin, a member of the first American party to see the river, led by Jedediah Smith in 1826. The town sense derives from the name of the river, along which it is located.

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒɪn

(the) Virgin

1. (Christianity) Synonym of Virgin Mary (“Mary, mother of Jesus”).
   • 1848, “Letter of Andrew Kim-Hai-Kim, Corean Deacon, to the Reverend Doctor Libois, Procurator of Foreign Missions at Macao”, in United States Catholic Magazine and Monthly Review‎^[1], volume 7, →OCLC, page 464:

     'Behold,' said he, showing the picture of the Virgin, 'Behold her who protects us. Fear nothing : we shall reach Chang-hai, and we shall see our bishop.'
     He spoke truth : shortly they descried a Chinese junk. The master of it, on the promise of a good round sum, undertook to guide them to their destination.

2. (astronomy, astrology) The constellation and zodiacal sign Virgo.

   Synonym: the Maiden

   • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Court:

     In Autumpne, whan the sonne in vyrgyne / By radyante hete enryped hath our corne […]

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous Days, / And Libra weighs in equal Scales the Year […] .

   • 1862, [Frances Rolleston], Mazzaroth, or, The Constellations, London: Rivingtons, page 55:

     The lion is coming, leaping forth, his foot over the head of the serpent Hydra. The virgin holds in one hand a palm-branch, in the other an ear of corn.

   • 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 31:

     At the moment then when Sirius, the star from the East, by coming to the Meridian at midnight signalled the Sun's new birth, the Virgin was seen just rising on the Eastern sky - the horizon line passing through her centre.

   • 1998, John H. Roger, “Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions”, in Journal of the British Astronomy Association, volume 108, number 1, page 26, column 2:

     While there are plenty of men among our constellations, there are only three women; but the Virgin makes up for this imbalance by being the second largest constellation and embodying the oldest of deities - the Earth Mother.

3. (rare) A surname.
4. A tributary of the Colorado River in the states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona in the United States.
5. A town in Washington County, Utah.

Virgin (plural Virgins)

1. (Christianity, art) A representation (picture, statue etc.) of Virgin Mary.
   • 1968, James A. Michener, “Sevilla”, in Iberia, New York, NY: Dial Press, published 2015, →ISBN, page 317:

     Of the forty-five floats presenting Virgins alone, two are preeminent and the subject of such veneration that even the most casual observer must reflect on the fact that Holy Week, which commemorates Christ's passion and death, has become in Spain a celebration in which he plays a secondary role, with his mother becoming the central figure.

• Girvin, Irving, Virnig, riving, viring