old maid

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see also: Old Maid

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Noun

old maid

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. The Madagascar periwinkle.
3. The common 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 1400054567, page 147,

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

5. (uncountable) A card game in which cards must be paired and one undesirable card is designated "old maid".
6. The unmatchable card in that game.

Synonyms

• (old unmarried woman) spinster

Translations

• French: pouilleux, vieux garçon
• German: Schwarzer Peter
• Italian: asino
• Spanish: culo sucio

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Old Maid

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Noun

old maid

1. (uncountable) A children's card game, sometimes played with a special deck, where the object of the game is for each player to find matches for all the cards in his hand, without being stuck with the single unmatchable card.

   The only card games I know are Go Fish and Old Maid.

2. (countable) The unmatchable card itself.

   The Joker will serve as the Old Maid.

Translations

• Russian: ве́дьма

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