The Jews had certainly a distinction in the meaning of this word. When they spoke of a young woman simply as such, they contented themselves with the expression of youth; but when they meant to speak of a virgin, they called her Almah, and generally subjoined, as in the instance of Rebekah, "neither had any man known her," (Genesis 24:16) and the Hebrew word Almah, at once expresseth this, for it means concealed. Hence the Virgin Mary, by way of distinction is thus spoken of, implying that she was after, as well as before, the birth of Christ, the Almah. See Mary.