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maiden voyage

American  

noun

  1. the first voyage of a ship after its acceptance by the owners from the builders.

maiden voyage British  

noun

  1. nautical the first voyage of a vessel

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
maiden voyage Idioms  

  1. The first experience, as in This tennis tournament is my maiden voyage in statewide competition. This term, originally meaning the first voyage of a ship, was first recorded in 1901, but the use of maiden to signify “the first time” dates from the mid-1500s.

Etymology

Origin of maiden voyage

First recorded in 1900–05

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.