Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or condition of being an old maid; advanced spinsterhood.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The condition or characteristics of an old maid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The condition or characteristics of a spinster.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

old maid +‎ -ism

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Examples

  • "It's nothing but a chronic case of old-maidism," said father impatiently.

    Chronicles of Avonlea Lucy Maud 1912

  • But one can never reckon with real, bred-in-the bone old-maidism.

    Chronicles of Avonlea Lucy Maud 1912

  • "It's nothing but a chronic case of old-maidism," said father impatiently.

    Chronicles of Avonlea 1908

  • There was, indeed, a danger -- his seniors said so -- of his developing into a regular "Auntie Fuss" of an adjutant, and when an officer once takes to old-maidism there is more hope for the virgin of seventy than for him.

    The Day's Work - Volume 1 Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Nothing but solitary old-maidism, unless two of you happen to be sisters, for who else will join her shame to yours?

    The Christian A Story Hall Caine 1892

  • There was one thing about her which excited much talk; I suppose it was only a piece of old-maidism.

    The Burial of the Guns Thomas Nelson Page 1887

  • It was considered as carrying old-maidism to an extreme length.

    The Burial of the Guns Thomas Nelson Page 1887

  • He supports her, and she has escaped the obloquy of old-maidism.

    Not Pretty, but Precious Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford 1878

  • So she thrusts the burden of her sins upon other people's shoulders, and travels the first stage to captious and disappointed old-maidism.

    Aurora Floyd. A Novel Mary Elizabeth 1863

  • Now, nothing daunted, she insisted on John viewing the case from Zara’s standpoint: the very natural desire of an ageing woman for a home and a husband; the dreaded stigma of old-maidism; the weariness and monotony of going on teaching other people’s children year after year; the mortification of seeing younger women chosen over your head, and your salary steadily decreasing as you grew older.

    The Way Home 2003

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