pucelle

plural pucelles · alternative puzell · alternative puzzell

1. archaicA girl, a maiden; a virgin (often with reference to Joan of Arc).

   Lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan.

   c. 1608, Ben Jonson, letter to John Fletcher

   3 more examples

   But what's that Puzell whom they tearme so pure?

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

   There might have been a hundred Jeanne d'Arcs, all definable as pucelle or maid, just as we say “spinster”: we even read of one in the time of the Revolution.

   1876, John Fiske, “Historical Difficulties”, in The Unseen World, and Other Essays

   Seven weeks before, Joan of Arc had ridden into Orleans. She was at the height of her strange career.…‘Maid or Witch, Pucelle or Puzzell – she is very hard to understand.’

   1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff

2. obsoleteA prostitute, a slut.