Old Maid

Definition: Old Maid

Old Maid

Noun

1. An elderly unmarried woman.

2. Any of various plants of the genus Zinnia cultivated for their variously and brightly colored flower heads.

3. Commonly cultivated Old World woody herb having large pinkish to red flowers.

4. A person who is primly fastidious.

5. 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').

Synonyms: Old Maid

Synonyms: cayenne jasmine (n), old maid flower (n), periwinkle (n), red periwinkle (n), rose periwinkle (n), spinster (n), zinnia (n). (additional references)

Old Maid is a card game for two or more players. It takes its name from the expression "old maid", meaning a single woman. Although there are retail card decks specifically for playing Old Maid, it is just as easy to play with a regular deck of 52 cards. In this case, one Queen is taken out of the deck and the remaining 51 cards are used.

The dealer deals all of the cards to the players (some players may have 1 more card than others, this is ok). Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (ie, 2 Kings, 2 Sevens, etc).

Beginning with the dealer, each player takes turns offering his hand facedown to the person on his left. That person selects a card and adds it to his or her hand. This player then sees if the selected card makes a pair with their original card. If so the pair is discarded. The player who just took a card then offers his or her hand to the person to their left and so on.

The object of the game is to continue to take cards, discarding pairs, until you are left with no cards. The player left with the 1 odd queen (that has no matching queen) is stuck with the "Old Maid" and loses. This game most likely originated in china or India.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Amusement	Cards, card games; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage, besique, euchre, drole, ecarte, picquet, allfours, quadrille, omber, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, boaston; blackjack, twenty-one, vingtun; quinze, thirty-one, put, speculation, connections, brag, cassino, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snoren, lift smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, Napoleon, patience, pairs; banker; blind poker, draw poker, straight poker, stud poker; bluff, bridge, bridge whist; lotto, monte, three-card monte, nap, penny-ante, poker, reversis, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-neighbor; baccarat.
Celibacy	Unmarried woman, spinster; maid, maiden;virgin, feme sole, old maid; bachelor girl, girl-bachelor; nun.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Old Maid

English words defined with "old maid": Old-maidism. (references)

Specialty definitions using "old maid": AGE, ARC ♦ BEATRICE, BONHEUR ♦ Coiffer to Sainte Catherine ♦ ELIZABETH, EYRE ♦ GLYNN ♦ MAIDEN LADY ♦ PHILIP II ♦ THORNBACK ♦ VIRGIN. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	I am an old maid, a frozen asset. (The Women; writing credit: Anita Loos) An old maid with a great right hook, you bastard! (Thank God It's Friday; writing credit: Armyan Bernstein) I'm out with an old maid. (Thank God It's Friday; writing credit: Armyan Bernstein) But your Majesty, you cannot die an old maid. (Queen Christina; writing credit: S.N. Behrman; H.M. Harwood)
Movie/TV Titles	The Old Maid (1939) Baldy Belmont and the Old Maid (1913) The Romance of an Old Maid (1912) A Joke on the Old Maid (1900) How the Old Maid Got a Husband (1900)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	A Few Rounds of Old Maid & Other Stories (reference) An Old Maid (reference) An Old Maid [DOWNLOAD: MICROSOFT READER] (reference) Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid (reference) Old Maid Flash Action Software (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	The Old Maid (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Old Maid Boogie (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	SCHOOL ZONE Flash Action Software -- Old Maid for Windows and Macintos (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	The old maid. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Author	Quotation
William Blake	Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Tangled Tale	Carroll, Lewis
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	To be an old maid, that is fine, but it is cold.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expression using "old maid": old maid flower. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "old maid"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		nënole. (various references)

Arabic		‏العانس (spinster). (various references)

Bulgarian		стара мома (spinster), вид игра на карти (faro, nap, pontoon, seven-up, slapjack, snap, spoil-five). (various references)

Czech		stará panna (spinster). (various references)

Danish		sandmusling (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Dutch		grote strandgaper (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Finnish		hietasimpukka (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

French		vieille fille, mye, clauque, bec de jars, \CLS. (various references)

German		Strandauster (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam), Schlickauster (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam), Sandmuschel (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam), Sandklaffmuschel (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam), Große Sandklaffmuschel (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Greek		γεροντοκόρη (spinster). (various references)

Hungarian		vénlány (spinster), vénkisasszony (spinster). (various references)

Italian		cappa molle (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		ハイファイ装置 (Hai Phong, hi-fi, hi-fi equipment, high fashion, high-ball, highbrow, highlight, hired automobile with driver, hired car, home, homeland, hybrid, hybrid computer, hybridoma, hyphen, hyphenation, marriage, older unmarried woman, quick pace, spinster, to marry), 婆抜き (living without one's mother-in-law), オールトの雲 (all back, all locations, all pass, all risks, all-night, all-purpose, all-round, all-round player, almighty, au revoir, aurora, euthanasia, good by, OAPEC, oasis, Oedipus, old boy, old fan, Old Guard, Old Parr, old power, old-fashioned, old-timer, Oort's cloud, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, Orlon, oyster). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ハイミス (older unmarried woman, spinster), ばばぬき (living without one's mother-in-law), オールドミス . (various references)

Manx		shenn-chaillin, shenn voidyn. (various references)

Pig Latin		olday aidmay

Portuguese		solteirona (bachelor-girl, maiden, spinster, woman), clame da areia (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Russian		старая дева (spinster, unappropriated blessing). (various references)

Scottish		sean-mhaighdean. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		usedelica (maid, spinster). (various references)

Spanish		solterona (quail, spinster, unmarried woman), almeja de río (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam), almeja de can (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Swedish		sandmussla (clam, gaper, long clam, longneck, mananose, sandgaper, soft clam, soft-shell clam). (various references)

Turkish		yaşlı kız (spinster), yaşlı bakire, titiz ve telâşlı tip, kız kurusu (spinster, tabby), aşırı titiz tip (splenetic). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	absaniae, anania, ananiae, ananiaeque, ananiam, ananias, aneni, anes, anus, Mya arenaria, Mya arenaria (Linnaeus), Vinca. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-d-d-i-l-m-o"
	-1 letter: amidol.
	-2 letters: amido, dildo, dolma, domal, modal.
	-3 letters: amid, dado, dial, dido, diol, idol, laid, lido, lima, limo, load, loam, maid, mail, mild, milo, modi, moil, mola, mold.
	-4 letters: add, ado, aid, ail, aim, ami, dad, dal, dam, did, dim, dol, dom, lad, lam, lid, mad, mid, mil, moa, mod, mol, odd, oil, old.
	Words containing the letters "a-d-d-i-l-m-o"
	+1 letter: lambdoid.
	+2 letters: diplomaed, middorsal.
	+3 letters: amygdaloid, duodecimal, manifolded.
	+4 letters: amygdaloids, demoralized, duodecimals, landlordism, modularized, thalidomide.
	+5 letters: amphidiploid, amygdaloidal, deformalized, deglamorized, demodulating, demodulation, domiciliated, landlordisms, thalidomides.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
the old maid	43
old maid card game	12
old maid card	9
old maid play	5
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Old Maid

Definition: Old Maid

Old Maid

Noun

Synonyms: Old Maid

Specialty Definition: Old Maid

Synonyms within Context: Old Maid

Amusement

Celibacy

Crosswords: Old Maid

Modern Usage: Old Maid

Screenplays

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Old Maid

Books

Theater & Movies

Music

High Tech

Photo Album: Old Maid

Familiar Quotations: Old Maid

William Blake

Use in Literature: Old Maid

Tangled Tale

Carroll, Lewis

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Expression: Old Maid

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Old Maid

the old maid

old maid card game

old maid card

old maid play

Modern Translation: Old Maid

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Scottish

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ancestral Language Translations: Old Maid

Anagrams: Old Maid

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

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