old maid

noun

1. Disparaging and Offensive. an elderly or confirmed spinster.
2. a fussy, timid, prudish person.
3. Cards.
   1. a simple game, played with a deck having one card removed, in which the players draw from one another to match pairs and the one holding an odd queen at the end loses.
   2. the loser of such a game.

old maid

noun

1. a woman regarded as unlikely ever to marry; spinster
2. informal.
   a prim, fastidious, or excessively cautious person
3. a card game using a pack from which one card has been removed, in which players try to avoid holding the unpaired card at the end of the game

Sensitive Note

The meaning “a spinster” is used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting. It puts emphasis on the woman’s advanced age and assumed inability to ever attract a husband. spinster.

Derived Forms

• ˌold-ˈmaidish, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of old maid¹

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

No wonder that of all the Bradys, it is the quintessential old maid who we miss the most.

From The Daily Beast

My high-school friends had their priorities straight: they knew not to become an “old maid” or an “old mom.”

From The Daily Beast

He and I have been seeing each other for four years now, which makes me, at age 30, an unmarried old maid myself.

From The Daily Beast

Remember the days when an unmarried 16 year old was considered an old maid?

From The Daily Beast

When I am an old maid I am going to mount the platform and preach the training of the voice in childhood.

From Project Gutenberg

And she had struggled valiantly against becoming an embittered old maid; in the main, had succeeded.

From Project Gutenberg

It was her old maid, Pauline, who is here with her in this hotel to-night, and who has looked after her all her life nearly.

From Project Gutenberg

A caller at the home of Mlle. Cormon, and afterwards at that of M. du Bousquier, who married "the old maid."

From Project Gutenberg

We went there on radioed orders, the complaint being phoned into headquarters by some old maid whose sleep was disturbed.

From Project Gutenberg