1. [informal] A prim, fussy, or excessively particular person
   "She's such an old maid about keeping everything tidy"
    
2. An elderly unmarried woman
   "The old maid lived alone in the old house at the end of the street";
   - spinster
    
3. 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"
    
4. The loser in a game of old maid
   "She drew the queen of spades and became the old maid, much to her disappointment"
    
5. 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
    
6. [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