vestal

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: ves=tal

CIDE DICTIONARY

vestal, a. [L. Vestalis belonging to Vesta, vestal. See Vesta.].

 Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth; hence, pure; chaste.  [1913 Webster]

vestal, n. [L. Vestalis (sc. virgo): cf. F. vestale. See Vestal, a.].

•  A virgin consecrated to Vesta, and to the service of watching the sacred fire, which was to be perpetually kept burning upon her altar.  [1913 Webster]

  " The Vestals were originally four, but afterward six, in number. Their term of service lasted thirty years, the period of admission being from the sixth to the tenth year of the candidate's age."  [1913 Webster]
•  A virgin; a woman pure and chaste; also, a nun.  [1913 Webster]

  "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!"  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

vestal, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 chaste, pure.
2 of or relating to the Roman goddess Vesta.
--n.
1 a chaste woman, esp. a nun.
2 Rom. Antiq. a vestal virgin.

Idiom

vestal virgin Rom. Antiq. a virgin consecrated to Vesta and vowed to chastity, who shared the charge of maintaining the sacred fire burning on the goddess's altar.

Etymology

ME f. L vestalis (adj. & n.) (as VESTA)

THESAURUS

vestal

Platonic, abstinent, bachelor girl, celibate, continent, feme sole, intact, lone woman, maid, maiden, maiden lady, maidenly, old maid, single girl, spinster, spinstress, vestal virgin, virgin, virginal

ROGET THESAURUS

vestal

Purity

N purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.