A term used in a general sense in England until the middle of the 17th century to cover all jack-action instruments After that it was limited to oblong single-choired instruments, the strings of which are more or less perpendicular to the key levers, and with both nut and bridge resting on the soundboard
If you describe someone as virginal, you mean that they look young and innocent, as if they have had no experience of sex. Somehow she'd always been a child in his mind, pure and virginal = pure
Something that is virginal looks new and clean, as if it has not been used or spoiled. abandoning worn-out land to cultivate virginal pasture. like a virgin. or virginals Small rectangular harpsichord with a single set of strings and a single manual. The derivation of its name is uncertain. The virginal's strings run parallel to the keyboard, which occupies only a portion of the longer side. Combination virginals include a smaller portable virginal that can be placed on top of the larger keyboard to create a two-manual instrument. The virginal was particularly popular in 16th-17th-century England, where much music was written for it by William Byrd, Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, and others
a legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women) in the 16th and 17th centuries untouched or undefiled; "nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage"- L
in the 1700's, a small keyed instrument, sort of a miniature harpsicord, generally played by unmarried daughters to entertain suitors and guests, thus the name "virginal"