An old maid is a
spinster
''Spinster'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...
.
Old maid or Old Maid may also refer to:
Games
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Old maid (card game)
Old Maid is a Victorian card game for two or more players probably deriving from an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks.
History
The rules of the game are first recorded in 1884 by Charles M. Green and referred to in ...
, a simple game popular around the world, existing in many variants
*, a German card game (variant of ) whose name translates as 'old maid'
Film
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''The Old Maid'' (1939 film), an American drama film starring Bette Davis
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''The Old Maid'' (1972 film), a French film by Jean-Pierre Blanc
Literature
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(novel) or ''The Old Maid'', an 1836 novel by Honoré de Balzac
*
''The Old Maid'', a 1924 novella by
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
that was the basis for the 1935 Broadway play and the 1939 feature film
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''The Old Maid'', a 1935 play by Zoe Akins
* ''The Old Maid'', a 1761 play by
Arthur Murphy
Other uses
* ''
Catocala badia
''Catocala badia'', the bay underwing, bayberry underwing or old maid, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found from southern Maine and New Hampshire south to New York and Connecticut.
The wingspan is 50–60 mm. There is probably ...
'' or old maid, an owlet moth species
* Old maid, an unpopped kernel in a batch of popped
popcorn
Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion.
A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...
kernels
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''Old Maid'' (HBC vessel), operated by the HBC from 1928-1930, see
Hudson's Bay Company vessels
See also
* ''
The Old Maid and the Thief
''The Old Maid and the Thief'' is a radio opera in one act by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti. The work uses an English language libretto by the composer which tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power. Menotti writes in ...
'', a 1937 opera by Gian Carlo Menotti
* "
Old Maid Boogie
"Old Maid Boogie" is a 1947 song by Eddie Vinson
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (born Edward L. Vinson Jr.; December 18, 1917 – July 2, 1988) was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed ...
", a 1947 R&B song by Eddie Vinson
*
Old maid's bonnets
''Lupinus perennis'' (also wild perennial lupine, wild lupine, sundial lupine, blue lupine, Indian beet, or old maid's bonnets) is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is widespread in the eastern part of the USA (from Texas and Flori ...
(''Lupinus perennis''), a flowering plant species in the family Fabaceae
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Old maid's insanity
Erotomania, also known as de Clérambault's Syndrome, named after French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. It is a relatively uncommon paranoid condition that is character ...
or erotomania
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Old maid's nightcap (''Geranium maculatum''), a flowering plant species in the family Geraniaceae
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Old-maid's-pink (''Agrostemma''), a flowering plant genus in the family Caryophyllaceae
{{disambiguation