old lady

American  

noun

Informal.

old ladies plural

1. a mother, usually one's own.

2. a wife.

3. a girlfriend or female lover, especially a female lover with whom one cohabits.

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old lady British  

noun

1. an informal term for mother 1 wife

2. a large noctuid moth, Mormo maura, that has drab patterned wings originally thought to resemble an elderly Victorian lady's shawl

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• old ladies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of old lady

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

old lady

But if she, a towering scholar of Yiddish literature, assumes the pose of a little old lady, don’t be fooled.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Read on: Want to be a rich old lady?

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026

To this, Oliver sarcastically replies, “No one needs your 17th-century old lady food and outdated social rules.”

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025

“I feel like we’re in one of those Sunday night dramas about two bright-eyed, feisty old lady detectives outsmarting the police at every turn.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2025

The old lady nudged past Finn and melted back into the crowd.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• bride
• lover
• spouse
• wife