old lady

American  

noun

Informal.

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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Etymology

Origin of old lady

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

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To this, Oliver sarcastically replies, “No one needs your 17th-century old lady food and outdated social rules.”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

“Why are you singing that old lady song to a new baby?” her mother would ask.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2025

And when she saw Satchmo, instead of doing the old lady wave and Hey, how's your mother, like some of the other grown-ups in the neighborhood, Ms. Adams just nodded slightly.

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

Related Words

• bride
• lover
• spouse
• wife