unicorn bait

English

Etymology

From the tradition that only a virgin could tame a unicorn, leading hunters to use virgins to lure the legendary beast into being captured.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

unicorn bait (uncountable)

1. (slang, humorous) A virgin.
   • 1966, David R. Slavitt, Rochelle: or, Virtue Rewarded, Chapman and Hall, published 1966, page 118:

     She had turned herself back into a virgin again, with that flair for backwardness of hers. An unusual talent, I thought, but of no particular use - except perhaps in a cat-house, where, by exercising it she might continue to fetch premium prices from customers with a special taste for unicorn bait.

   • 2007, Mercedes Lackey, Fortune's Fool, Luna, →ISBN, page 120:

     Who'd marry the Fool? Who'd betroth his daughter to the Fool? The very scorn that made his magic possible also made any kind of a normal life impossible. The only chance to find a woman lay among the magical creatures of the realm…and he wasn't at all sure that he wanted to make that kind of alliance with one of them.
     […]
     He stared glumly down at his reflection in the mead, thinking with resignation that he was, in all probability, doomed to live and die as unicorn bait.

   • 2010, L. J. Smith, The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Shadow Souls, HarperTeen, →ISBN, page 140:

     He looked at her, startled and a little disappointed. Then he shrugged. "Still unicorn bait," he said.