vestal

From Latin Vesta, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. More at was.

• enPR: vĕs'təl, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛs.t(ə)l/
• Rhymes: -ɛstəl

vestal (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth.
2. Pure; chaste.
   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     Does money fail?—come to my mint—coin paper,
     Till gold be at a discount, and ashamed
     To show his bilious face, go purge himself,
     In emulation of her vestal whiteness.

vestal (plural vestals)

1. A virgin consecrated to Vesta, and to the service of watching the sacred fire, which was to be perpetually kept burning upon her altar; a vestal virgin.
2. A female virgin; a woman who has never had sexual relations.
3. A nun.

• St Eval, lavest, valets

• IPA^(key): /besˈtal/ [besˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ves‧tal

vestal m or f (masculine and feminine plural vestales)

1. vestal (of or relating to Vesta)
2. vestal (pure, chaste)

vestal f (plural vestales)

1. vestal (virgin)

• “vestal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Borrowed from Latin Vestālis.

vestal c

1. (historical) vestal virgin

• vestal in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker