| 释义 |
old maid
1. A woman who remains single considerably beyond the ordinary marrying age; an elderly spinster: usually connoting habits characteristic of such a condition.
1530Palsgr. 250/1 Oulde mayde, luberdine. 1673Lady's Calling ii. i. §5 An old Maid is now..look'd on as the most calamitous Creature in nature. 1711Addison Spect. No. 7 ⁋4 An old Maid, that is troubled with the Vapours. 1819Metropolis III. 232 The Miss Thing-em-tights, in Golden-square—fusty old maid frumps! 1887Ruskin Præterita II. xi. 391 She..spent most of her summers in travel, with another wise old maid for companion.
2. A name of a bivalve mollusc of the family Myidæ, also called Gaper or Gaping Clam.
1865J. G. Wood Com. Shells of Sea-shore (1869) 23 The Common Gaper-shell or Old Maid (Mya arenaria)... In some places the animal is sold for food, and is sold under the name of ‘Old Maid’.
3. a. West Indian name of a plant, Vinca rosea.
1884Miller Plant-n., Vinca rosea, Madagascar Periwinkle, ‘Old Maid’ of the W. Indies.
b. U.S. The velvet-leaf or Indian mallow, Abutilon theophrasti, or a zinnia, Z. elegans.
1839Southern Lit. Messenger V. 751/2 A particular spot in his garden was appropriated to the culture of old maids. 1880Scribner's Monthly May 101/2 In my section an annoying weed is Abutilon, or velvet-leaf, also called ‘old maid’. 1888Century Mag. XXXVI. 896/1 The flower-garden overrun with..four-o'clocks, old-maids, and sun⁓flowers.
4. A simple round game at cards in which one card (usually a queen) is removed from the pack and the rest distributed among the players, who draw cards from one another till all are paired except the odd one, the holder of which receives this title.
1831E. Leslie Amer. Girl's Bk. 144 Old Maid... When played by girls, three of the queens must be put away as useless. 1874L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) ix. 89 After dinner..we had to begin a stodgy game of Old Maid, just us two. 1891in Cassell's Bk. Sports & Past. 865. 1959 [see heart n. 24 b].
Hence old-ˈmaiddom = old maidhood; old-ˈmaidhood, -ˈmaidenhood, -ˈmaidship, -ˈmaidenship, the state or condition of an old maid; old-ˈmaidish, -ˈmaidenish, -ˈmaidenly adjs., like or characteristic of an old maid (hence old-ˈmaidishness); old-ˈmaidery, the habits or characteristics of an old maid; old-ˈmaidishly adv., in the manner of an old maid; old-ˈmaidism, -ˈmaidenism = old-maidhood, old-maidery; old-ˈmaidy a. = old-maidish adj.
1920D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl vi. 93 She was withering towards *old-maiddom.
1847A. Brontë Agnes Grey ix. 144 Never marry at all, not even to escape the infamy of *old-maidenhood. 1889C. M. Yonge Reputed Changeling II. xxvii. 184 Old maidenhood came earlier then than in these days. 1898Westm. Gaz. 3 Oct. 2/1 The woman [was] one of the sort in which old-maidenhood is writ large on every fold of the gown.
1867J. H. Stirling in Fortn. Rev. Oct. 381 The plain, simple,..but somewhat *old-maidenish and loquacious, Herr Professor Kant.
1782H. Cowley Bold Stroke for Husband 14 Till the horrors of *old maidenism frighten her into civility. 1835Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. I. 26 The lady, verging on old-maidenism.
1784R. Bage Barham Downs II. 285 She has only a few innocent *old-maidenly foibles about her. 1896Mrs. Caffyn Quaker Grandmother 34 You know the cross-grained old-maidenly sort of a person that fate is.
1784R. Bage Barham Downs II. 324 Betake ourselves to chastity, cards, and scandal, the solid comforts of *old-maidenship.
1804Something Odd I. 199 Notwithstanding the *old-maidery and malevolence of dear Miss Freddy. 1821T. D. Fosbroke Berkeley MSS., Inclined to parsimonious old maidery.
1883N. Sheppard Geo. Eliot's Ess. Introd. 14 Marriage for deliverance from poverty or *old-maidhood.
1757E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) III. 9 Sensible and agreeable, but formal and *old-maidish. 1862Gifts & Graces x. 114 She was a very methodical and old-maidish little lady.
1975‘P. Loraine’ Ask the Rattlesnake ii. viii. 239 Clifford tut-tutted *old maidishly.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 213 If ever she betrayed an atom of *old-maidishness, it was on the score of her caps. 1875H. James R. Hudson iii. 103 There is nothing like matrimony for curing old-maidishness. 1907G. B. Shaw Major Barbara Pref. 185 Here am I,..economically disposed to the limit of old-maidishness. 1950M. Peake Gormenghast xviii. 112 In spite of his old-maidishness, his clipped and irritatingly academic delivery.., he had a strongly developed sense of the ridiculous. 1975J. Symons Three Pipe Problem xvi. 152 With precise old-maidishness he took a small key from his watchchain.
1776Mrs. Delany Lett. Ser. ii. II. 193 To come to the letter so strongly tinctured with *old maidism. 1893Temple Bar Mag. XCVIII. 539 He is faddy, almost to the point of old-maidism.
1861Sat. Rev. 20 July 63 Till..the chilling threshold of *old maidship has been reached.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxv. 357 Whoever heard of getting a prisoner loose in such an *old-maidy way as that? 1905J. C. Lincoln Partners of Tide i. 8 The old maids are pretty conscientious, spite of their bein' so everlastin' ‘old maidy’. 1923U. L. Silberrad Lett. J. Armiter xiii. 253 She is much nicer and better really than I, in my old-maidy prejudice, used to think.
Add:[1.] b. fig. A prim, fussy, or nervous person supposedly reminiscent of an old maid.
1851T. Parker in J. Weiss Life T. Parker (1863) II. xix. 105, I am only an old maid in life, after all my bettying about in literature and philanthropy. 1911G. B. Shaw Getting Married 201 I'm a regular old maid. I'm very particular about my belongings. 1989Chicago Tribune 13 Jan. i. 24/3 He seems to be enjoying himself a little too much and seems more prissy old maid than confirmed old bachelor. |