maidenhair

Noun

maidenhair (countable and uncountable, plural maidenhairs)

1. (poetic, uncountable) A woman's pubic hair.
   • He fingered shreds of hair, her maidenhair, her mermaid's, into the bowl1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
   • His fingers tore at her maidenhair. Gasping, she recoiled for long enough to allow him entry.1979, Georgianna Bell, Passionate Jade, page 326
2. Either of two species of genus Adiantum of fern with delicate, hair-like stalks, especially Adiantum capillus-veneris.
   • Our common Maidenhair does from a number of hard black fibres, send forth a great many blacking shining brittle stalks, hardly a span long [...].1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 178
   • Among herbs that have traditionally been considered to possess aphrodisiac virtue are, maidenhair, navelwort, anemone, wild poppy, valerian, cyclamen, male fern, pansy, periwinkle.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 115

   Synonyms:

   maidenhair fern

3. (Canada, US, regional) Either of two ericaceous plants: creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula) or checkerberry (G. procumbens).