old maid

Noun

old maid (plural old maids)

1. (pejorative) An old woman who has never married; a spinster.

   If she is looking for the perfect man before she marries, she'll be an old maid.

2. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A particular kind of periwinkle.
3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A particular kind of zinnia.
4. An unpopped kernel in a batch of popped popcorn kernels.
   • 2004 April 29 – May 5, "Unpopped Kernels Costing U.S. Billions", The Onion, available in Embedded in America, →ISBN, page 147,

     Crawford asked Congress to double funding for the FDA's $200 million old-maid-elimination research project.

5. A card game in which cards must be paired and one undesirable card is designated "old maid".
6. An unpaired card in that game.

See also

• Old Maid

Anagrams

• miladdo