Other forms: deflowered, deflowering
To deflower is to take a woman's virginity, in old use. Deflowered by him, to deflower a maiden.
It is archaic and carries assumptions that modern writing does not share — that virginity is a possession, and that losing it damages the woman. It survives only in historical and literary contexts. The flower in it is an old metaphor for virginity.
1verbdeflowerTo take a woman's virginity, in old use.
“In the old ballad, a wicked lord deflowers a young maid and then abandons her.”
deflower is an old term.
Old French desflorer comes from Latin deflorare, to strip of flowers, from de- plus flos, a flower.
Latin
deflōrāre
Old French
desflorer
Middle English
deflouren
English, today
deflower
From Middle English deflouren, from Old French desflorer (modern French déflorer), from Latin deflōrāre. by surface analysis, de- + flower.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA