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.

(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, 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. The constellation and star sign Virgo.
   • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Court:

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

   • 1730, 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 […] .

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