Maid of Saragossa

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

Augustina Zaragoza, distinguished for her heroism when Saragossa was besieged in 1808 and 1809, and celebrated by Byron in his Childe Harold (I, liv-lvi).

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Common questions

What does “Maid of Saragossa” mean?

Augustina Zaragoza, distinguished for her heroism when Saragossa was besieged in 1808 and 1809, and celebrated by Byron in his Childe Harold (I, liv-lvi).

Is “Maid of Saragossa” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.