vestal
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈvɛstəl/
- Archaic
:
vestal
- However, while the six vestals, the flamen, and probably the sacrificing velatus represent definite historical offices, it is significant that no figures on the smaller frieze seem to have portrait features.
- vestal virgins
Examples
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The quote goes, "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!"
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Of course, in this age of double entendres, contemporary viewers might have perceived both virtue and vice even in the seemingly clear iconography of the vestal.
Academic text (2007) -
"One of 16 vestal virgins leaving for the coast."
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Her vestal livery is but sick and green, and none but fools do wear it.
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She is there to serve doctors, to carry out commands, a handmaiden, a vestal to the priests of medicine.
Fiction book (1996) -
His tribades lament that their troupe is "Nothing so fine, nothing so great as the establishment of the vestal virgins in Rome."
Academic text (2007) -
Typically, in fixed mute or paratransit vehicles, the anchor point will be secured to vestal stanchions separating windows, or to the structure just above the window, depending upon the structural strength of these members.
Academic text (1996) -
The poet described her as a vestal figure, symbolizing purity and devotion.
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In ancient Rome, the role of the vestal was to maintain the sacred fire and remain chaste.
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The story tells of a vestal who dedicated her life to the goddess Vesta, embodying her ideals completely.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A Roman woman priest who kept a temple's sacred fire burning
Compounds
How Chaste
- Archaic
1
9.9
- NSFW
10
5.5
Surface Forms
Etymology
Vestal comes from the Roman goddess Vesta, whose chosen women kept a sacred fire and were famous for their 'purity'. So a vestal can mean a woman who is pure or devoted to spiritual things.