Noun: old maid ówld meyd
- [informal] A prim, fussy, or excessively particular person
"She's such an old maid about keeping everything tidy"
- An elderly unmarried woman
"The old maid lived alone in the old house at the end of the street";
- spinster
- A card game using a pack of cards from which one queen has been removed; players match cards and the player holding the unmatched queen at the end of the game is the loser (or 'old maid')
"The family enjoyed a lively game of old maid on rainy afternoons"
- The loser in a game of old maid
"She drew the queen of spades and became the old maid, much to her disappointment"
- Commonly cultivated Old World woody herb having large pinkish to red flowers
"Madagascar old maid is grown both as an ornamental and for medicinal purposes";
- periwinkle, rose periwinkle, Madagascar periwinkle, Cape periwinkle, red periwinkle, cayenne jasmine, Catharanthus roseus, Vinca rosea
- [archaic] Any of various plants of the genus Zinnia cultivated for their variously and brightly coloured flower heads
"The garden was filled with colourful old maid flowers";
- zinnia, old maid flower
Derived forms: old maids
Type of: also-ran, card game, cards, flower, herb, herbaceous plant, loser, unmarried woman
Part of: Catharanthus, genus Catharanthus, genus Zinnia
Encyclopedia: Old maid