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. See also spinster.

Other Word Forms

• old-maidish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of old maid¹

First recorded in 1520–30